I teach in a parochial school, and my 5th and 6th grade kiddos would have a hard time with this book. As an avid reader of juvenile fiction, I think there are better choices for 5-8 grade kids. This is heavy subject matter. The author does a wonderful job of painting a bleak, dreary, frightening picture of a global disaster, and that's exactly what's wrong with it. The imagery that it creates is a heavy and grey, as if you can feel the weight of these characters around you. Sammi goes off with a 40 year old man so that her parents don't have to worry about feeding her, and her parents seem fine with that, given the circumstances. Megan starves herself to earn redemption for her sins by an unforgiving God. This perception of God is taught to her by a preacher who takes food from his congregation as they are dying from starvation. So much food that he still appears not to have lost any weight at all. I think the message of God and His church in this book is extremely negative. The main character, Miranda, chooses to give up her life by walking out in freezing temperatures in a weakened state so that her family's food can last a few days longer. Luckily, that doesn't occur, but that's about the happiest thing in this story. The ideas of taking care of your family, loving your mother and father, and selflessness are all good messages, but it's told at such a dark, emotional level that I'm afraid some children would be haunted by the tale.

This was on my son's list for Battle of the Books this summer, and it looked interesting, so I got it for him. He read it in one day and proclaimed it one of the best and scariest books he has read in a while. He insisted I read it, too. Like him, I was completely unable to put it down. I highly recommend it. That being said, I will not give it to my 10 year old daughter to read. The romance with Dan, some talks about sex... I think many 10 year olds are ready for that.

The language is something that even 14 year olds don't want to hear. :( but overall, GREAT book.

This book went down well in our house ... its interesting how the main character grows up under the awful events....Book 2 in this series is much better though

By the first 50 pages of the book you can no longer stop reading. It becomes almost an effort to remove reality from fiction. The book is told so well you want to rush out and stock your cabinets and prepare for the world to end. Very moving, very emotional, one of the best books I read last year

This is a great book, but scary. If your kid is a worrier, it will probably be a bit too much if they are under 13. Maybe even over 13. Very easy to place yourself in the situation. I enjoyed it, but it even freaked me out a little. Good book. Will scary the cheese out of some kids though.