Fallout

FALLOUT by Todd Strasser. Candlewick, September 2013.


Strasser opens his newest offering for teens with this question by asking (and answering) a what if question: what if Russia had dropped the bomb in the 60s? When Scott's father builds a bomb shelter, the rest of the neighbors think he is crazy. No one is going to drop the bomb; there is too much for both countries to lose after all. But the unthinkable happens and Scott, along with his parents and younger brother head into the shelter. Frantic neighbors begin to crowd in hoping to gain access. The shelter is built for 4 and only supplied with a minimum of food for the time they must stay inside to be safe from the fallout. But now there are 6. How will they all survive? Strasser maintains the suspense by switching back and forth between events in Scott's life before the attack and then scenes in the shelter itself. Kids today never experienced the duck and cover drills, never sat and saw the threats played out on television. To them, this is history, a history they should know.