The Daily Booktalk: Teen Tuesday: Gone by Michael Grant

Gone by Michael Grant. 576 p. Gone series #1. HarperCollins Publishers, June, 2008. 9780061448768.

It's the last Tuesday of summer vacation! Just think, Summer readers, I will see your smiling faces in a week from today as we start another fun and successful school year together! The Teen Tuesday feature is a sci-fi/ horror genre-blender called Gone by Michael Grant. It is the first book in the six-book Gone series. It's just another school day in the fictional town of Perdido Beach, California. Sam is zoning out, thinking about surfing when, poof, his teacher is suddenly gone. Blinked out of existence along with every other person above the age of fourteen as well as all forms of communication - no cell phones, television or Internet. Later, the kids find an impenetrable barrier. Their initial glee over the absent adults soon turns to fear as they realize the potential dangers of fire, illness and injury and dwindling food. Then, there are the bullies who take charge. It's a sort of modern day Lord of the Flies but with a supernatural twist.