Dry
Dry
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Thorndike Press
Annotation: Large Prints increased font size and wider line spacing maximizes reading legibility, and has been proven to advance com... more
Genre: [Suspense fiction]
 
Reviews: 5
Catalog Number: #367245
Format: Library Binding (Large Print)
Special Formats: Large Print Large Print
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Copyright Date: 2020
Edition Date: 2020 Release Date: 09/09/20
Pages: 601 pages
ISBN: 1-432-87663-5
ISBN 13: 978-1-432-87663-0
Dewey: Fic
Dimensions: 23 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

When a calamitous drought overtakes southern California, a group of teens must struggle to keep their lives and their humanity in this father-son collaboration.When the Tap-Out hits and the state's entire water supply runs dry, 16-year-old Alyssa Morrow and her little brother, Garrett, ration their Gatorade and try to be optimistic. That is, until their parents disappear, leaving them completely alone. Their neighbor Kelton McCracken was born into a survivalist family, but what use is that when it's his family he has to survive? Kelton is determined to help Alyssa and Garrett, but with desperation comes danger, and he must lead them and two volatile new acquaintances on a perilous trek to safety and water. Occasionally interrupted by "snapshots" of perspectives outside the main plot, the narrative's intensity steadily rises as self-interest turns deadly and friends turn on each other. No one does doom like Neal Shusterman (Thunderhead, 2018, etc.)—the breathtakingly jagged brink of apocalypse is only overshadowed by the sense that his dystopias lie just below the surface of readers' fragile reality, a few thoughtless actions away. He and his debut novelist son have crafted a world of dark thirst and fiery desperation, which, despite the tendrils of hope that thread through the conclusion, feels alarmingly near to our future. There is an absence of racial markers, leaving characters' identities open.<Mouths have never run so dry at the idea of thirst. (Thriller. 13-17)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Gr 9 Up-The Tap-Out, the government's friendlier name for the drought, has been in effect for a while. The inability to water one's lawn or take a long shower was a nuisance until the water stopped permanently. With the fear of no water, people fight over bottles at Costco, they mug one another on the streets, and arm themselves for fear of break-ins. As her town becomes a war zone, Alyssa's parents set out to retrieve emergency water from the governmentbut when they don't return, Alyssa, her 10-year-old brother Garret, and their neighbor Kelton go to locate them, only to find dead bodies on the beach and no sign of her parents. They start heading to Kelton's family emergency bunker, slowly realizing their corner of California is becoming obsolete. Although this novel has an apocalyptic tone, the subject matter is timely and realistically possible. The Shustermans challenge readers to ponder what they would do in a similar crisis. While Alyssa remains positive and fights for survival, Kelton's doomsday prep mode kicks in, and he often tries solving problems with weapons. This survival tale is packed with themes and allegories that will attract fans of literary YA as well as readers seeking a good adventure. VERDICT A perfect choice for all collections. Dawn Abron, Zion-Benton Public Library, IL

Horn Book (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A major drought in Southern California culminates in taps running dry. As people become increasingly desperate and institutions break down, Alyssa, her brother Garrett, and their doomsday-prepper neighbor Kelton wind up on a road trip to survive, picking up strangers along the way who may or may not be allies. This compulsively readable, unnerving dystopia raises important questions about how our current world would handle the similar crises we've created.

Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

When a calamitous drought overtakes southern California, a group of teens must struggle to keep their lives and their humanity in this father-son collaboration.When the Tap-Out hits and the state's entire water supply runs dry, 16-year-old Alyssa Morrow and her little brother, Garrett, ration their Gatorade and try to be optimistic. That is, until their parents disappear, leaving them completely alone. Their neighbor Kelton McCracken was born into a survivalist family, but what use is that when it's his family he has to survive? Kelton is determined to help Alyssa and Garrett, but with desperation comes danger, and he must lead them and two volatile new acquaintances on a perilous trek to safety and water. Occasionally interrupted by "snapshots" of perspectives outside the main plot, the narrative's intensity steadily rises as self-interest turns deadly and friends turn on each other. No one does doom like Neal Shusterman (Thunderhead, 2018, etc.)—the breathtakingly jagged brink of apocalypse is only overshadowed by the sense that his dystopias lie just below the surface of readers' fragile reality, a few thoughtless actions away. He and his debut novelist son have crafted a world of dark thirst and fiery desperation, which, despite the tendrils of hope that thread through the conclusion, feels alarmingly near to our future. There is an absence of racial markers, leaving characters' identities open.<Mouths have never run so dry at the idea of thirst. (Thriller. 13-17)

Publishers Weekly (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

In Neal Shusterman (Thunderhead) and son Jarrod-s near-future or alternate-present America, a prolonged drought (-the Tap-Out-) results in the sudden curtailment of Southern California-s water supply. When their parents vanish while seeking desalinated water, 16-year-old Alyssa and 10-year-old Garrett embark on a harrowing journey, searching for their parents and fending for themselves as society deteriorates. Along the way, the siblings pick up three teens: their survivalist neighbor Kelton, unpredictable lone wolf Jacqui, and calculating opportunist Henry. This thriller alternates between the teens- distinct and plausible viewpoints, occasionally supplementing with brief -snapshots- of others (a fleeing family, a news anchor) dealing with the escalating catastrophe. The dynamic core-character relationships are satisfying, and the intersection of their narrative with the snapshots adds depth to briefly glimpsed characters and illuminates the full scale of the disaster. The lack of warning before the long-looming crisis breaks may require some initial suspension of disbelief, but the palpable desperation that pervades the plot as it thunders toward the ending feels true, giving it a chilling air of inevitability. It is also thoroughly effective as a study of how extreme circumstances can bring out people-s capacity for both panic and predation, ingenuity and altruism. Ages 12-up. Agent: Andrea Brown, Andrea Brown Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Horn Book (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Kirkus Reviews (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Publishers Weekly (Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Word Count: 101,846
Reading Level: 5.5
Interest Level: 7-12
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 5.5 / points: 16.0 / quiz: 198982 / grade: Upper Grades
Guided Reading Level: Z+
Fountas & Pinnell: Z+
Dry

SNAPSHOT: JOHN WAYNE


Dalton loves the way planes take off from John Wayne Airport. It's a real trip. They call it a "modified noise abatement takeoff," and it was specifically implemented to spare Newport Beach millionaires from having to deal with airport noise. Basically, the plane powers up on the runway with its brakes on, then accelerates at full force into a ridiculously steep takeoff, followed ten seconds later by a sudden leveling off and throttling down of the engines, which sounds, to the uninitiated, like engine failure, causing at least one person on every flight to gasp, or even scream in panic. The plane then coasts out over the back bay, Balboa Island, and the Newport Peninsula before the pilot pushes the engines back to full and resumes the climb-out.

"They oughta call it John Glenn instead of John Wayne," Dalton once said--because taking off from there was the closest most people would ever get to blasting off into space.

Dalton and his younger sister are regular flyers, visiting their dad, who lives up in Portland, a few times a year--Christmas, Easter, most of the summer, and every other Thanksgiving. Today, however, it's not just the two of them traveling north. Their mother is coming, too.

"If your dad won't put me up, I'll be happy to stay in a hotel," she says.

"He won't make you do that," Dalton tells her, but she doesn't seem too sure.

A few years back, Dalton's mom had left him for a loser with nice pecs and a soul patch, who she subsequently kicked to the curb a year later. Live and learn. Anyway, when the marriage went south, his dad went north.

"You understand this is not about your father and me getting back together," she tells Dalton and his sister, but for kids of divorce, hope springs eternal.

Within minutes of the Tap-Out, his mom had gone online and bought three overpriced tickets on Alaska Air--one of the few airlines that flies nonstop to Portland on a plane that you didn't have to get out and push.

"Last three tickets," she told them triumphantly. "You've got an hour to pack. Carry-ons only."

The trip to the airport is bumper-to-bumper. What should be a fifteen-minute ride takes almost an hour.

The parking situation at John Wayne is the first indication that there's going to be turbulence up ahead. All but one parking structure says FULL. They get one of the last remaining spaces at the far end of the last lot. As they make their way to the terminal, Dalton notes all the cars circling, like it's a huge game of musical chairs, with no chairs left.

The TSA checkpoint is a madhouse, which never happens here.

"A lot a people are going on vacation," Dalton's seven-year-old sister, Sarah, says.

"Yes, honey," their mom responds absently.

"Where do you think they're going?"

Their mom sighs, too stressed to continue humoring her, so Dalton looks at the boards, and takes up the slack. "Cabo San Lucas," he says. "Denver, Dallas, Chicago . . ."

"My friend Gigi's from Chicago."

The security guy double takes on Dalton's passport, because his hair is brown in the photo, but now it's bleached blond.

"You sure this is you?"

"Last time I checked," Dalton responds.

The humorless TSA guy lets them get into the slow-moving crawl to the metal detector, which has issues with his facial rings. Finally they make it through security with just five minutes until boarding starts. Mom is relieved.

"Okay," she says. "We're here. We haven't lost anyone. No missing fingers or toes."

"I'm thirsty," Sarah says, but Dalton has already noticed that the concessions they passed all had NO WATER signs up.

"There'll be something to drink on the plane," their mother says.

Dalton thinks that might actually be true. After all, these planes all came from somewhere else. And he is getting a bit thirsty himself.

Then, just as they're about to start boarding, the gate agent comes on the loudspeaker and makes an announcement.

"Unfortunately, we're oversold on this flight," she says. "We're asking for volunteers with flexible travel plans who are willing to take a later flight."

Sarah tugs her mother's arm. "Mommy, volunteer!"

"Not this time, baby."

Dalton grins. Dad always tells them to volunteer because they give away hundreds of dollars in travel vouchers, which is always worth the inconvenience. But not today. Today it's all about getting out. Which is why they have trouble getting volunteers. The price of the vouchers goes from two hundred dollars to three hundred to five hundred dollars, and still no one is willing to surrender their ticket.

Finally the gate agent gives up. She gets on the loudspeaker, calling the names of the last people to buy tickets. Dalton, Sarah, and their mother. Dalton feels a twisting in the pit of his stomach.

"I'm sorry," says the gate agent, not sounding sorry at all, "but as the last to purchase, I'm obliged to reschedule you to a later flight."

Dalton's mom goes ballistic, and he can't blame her. This is one time they need to fight the Powers That Be.

"No," says their mom. "I don't care what you say! My children and I are getting on that plane!"

"You'll each receive a five-hundred-dollar travel voucher--that's fifteen hundred dollars," the agent says, trying to placate them. Their mom will not be bought.

"My children have court-ordered visitation with their father," she yells. "If you take them off this flight, you'll be breaking the law, and I'll sue!" Of course, this isn't their father's time with them, but the agent doesn't know that.

Even so, all the agent does is apologize, and look for later flights. "There's a flight tonight at five-thirty. . . . Oh wait, no, that one is full, too. . . . Let's see." She continues to hack away at her computer. "Eight-twenty . . . no . . ."

Then Dalton turns to his sister and whispers, "Give her the eyes."

Their mom had always told both Dalton and Sarah that their big blue eyes could melt anyone into a puddle. Not so much Dalton anymore. At an awkward seventeen, a bunch of facial piercings, a biohazard neck tattoo, and what his father calls "weed-whacked hair," the general public isn't melted anymore. Only seventeen-year-old girls. But Sarah still has the magical melting effect on hardened adults. So he lifts her up for the agent to get a good look at her.

"Aw, you're cute as a button," she says. Then rips three new tickets from the printer. "Here you go--tomorrow morning at six-thirty. That's the absolute best I can do."

So they wait. They don't leave, because the crowd just grows, and they know they'll never get back through security. They spend the night sleeping in uncomfortable airport chairs, getting sips of water from anyone who'll share with them, and there aren't many.

Then, when morning comes, even with confirmed tickets, there's no room on the six-thirty flight for them. Or the next one. Or the next one.

And they can't get tickets to flights to other places.

And the airport gets so crowded that extra police are brought in to keep the peace.

And with traffic jams everywhere, trucks with jet fuel can't get to the airport.

And Dalton, his mother, and sister have to face the fact that they won't be blasting off anywhere.

Excerpted from Dry by Neal Shusterman, Jarrod Shusterman
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Large Prints increased font size and wider line spacing maximizes reading legibility, and has been proven to advance comprehension, improve fluency, reduce eye fatigue, and boost engagement in young readers of all abilities, especially struggling, reluctant, and striving readers.


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