FCA's

1. Identify a position (5)
2. Explain your criteria, application, reasoning for your position with quoted evidence as support. Please indicate the page number of your quote in parenthesis following the quote. (10)
3. Explain the position of the opposition and provide counterargument. (10)

After reading Susan Pfeffer's Life as We Knew It, I knew it was a book I would recommend to my peers. Only categorizing this as an apocalypse theme would be tragic because it is much more than that. The books' plot line is intriguing, and focuses on Miranda's family more than the world actually "coming to an end." Pfeffer’s book, Life as We Knew It, should definitely be at the top of every students reading list.

 

One reason why I think this book would appeal to so many young readers is because it is set up in a diary format. The entries made it easy to follow the story line, and made me feel as if I were actually there, with Miranda and her family. You know some books you just don’t want to read because you feel like they have drawn out, unimportant chapters that are pointless? Well, you don’t have to worry about that with this book. Each entry is broken up, starting a new day or week with new facts and new disasters.

Life as We Knew It was certainly a page turner. Living in Michigan (or other states where nothing happens) you don’t think the horrific catastrophes that happen around the world could ever happen to you and your family. No one really thinks about what could be their last meal or last breath, but this was something Miranda and her family considered every day. “Matt, Mom, and I are down to one meal a day, but at least we’re eating 7 days a week (pg. 255).“ Even with all the struggles her family had to face, they were still optimistic, it’s a lesson everyone can learn from. I couldn't imagine living each day knowing the next may be worse than the one before. Although this is sad, it helped play into the books’ page-turner quality. This made me eager to find out what would happen next, and it kept me on edge because you never knew if it would be their last day.

On the other hand, some people may say the book lacked the action-pact part of the disasters. However, that’s not what the book was entirely about. Yes, the plot line occurs because of the natural disasters, but it’s more than that. The survival tactics Miranda and her family took to stay alive, how she felt during the apocalypse, and the steps they were all willing to take to make sure Miranda’s brother Jon stayed alive was what made the book. The journal entries of Miranda’s feelings and her journey along the disastrous ride made you feel like you were there, living it, and that is why I would recommend this book to students.