Gone

Did you ever wish that your parents would suddenly just disappear? If suddenly there was a mysterious catastrophe, would you prefer to take charge or just follow along? Could you handle the stress of suddenly developing new powers? Gone by Michael Grant is an inspirational novel full of fear, romance, and the fight to stay alive.

Sam Temple was going through just another school day when suddenly the teacher disappeared. Not only the teacher, it turns out, but everyone who's fifteen or older. Now in the FAYZ, or the Fallout Alley Youth Zone, bullies terrorize everyone, food is becoming short, there's no TV, internet, or phone, everything's in chaos, and suddenly some kids are developing new powers. Sure beats puberty as the worst thing happening to you when you're a teen. To make matters worse, the Coates private school kids decide that now's the great time to come in and take charge. Caine becomes the leader, attempting to bring order to the chaos in the town. But a new mystery starts to bring more trouble to the FAYZ, because Sam finds a wall slick, grey, hot to the touch, surrounding the town in a perfect sphere, with no breaks. On top of that, when your fifteenth birthday comes around, you disappear the exact moment you were born, and Caine may just be hiding something that could cause the present panic to erupt into the destruction of the new world. On a minor note, Sam has now got himself a girlfriend to worry about. Will everyone be able to survive their fear, or will they just end up killing themselves?

This book is a great one for this list of favorites because it shows that no matter how big they are, some people can face their fears. It's fast paced and contains many aspects of adventure, throwing quite a bit of danger into the mix of the story. Grant does an excellent job of portraying each character, and describing every fear, joy, danger aspect of the story in perfect detail, making you feel the tense atmosphere of the book right where you read it.

So, can Sam find a way out of the FAYZ? Will the preschoolers be able to find a way without their parents? Are the new powers kids are gaining more deadly than they believe them to be? Read Gone by Michael Grant and you'll be gripping the edges of the book before you even finish the first chapter.