Trapped

by Michael Northrop

[ibeforem]

This book is based on an outlandish premise: a days-long blizzard literally buries a town, dumping dozens of feet of snow and trapping everyone where they happened to be when it started. In this case, it traps seven kids and a teacher in the high school. Cell phones and land lines aren’t working, vehicles (not even plows) can get through, and it isn’t long before the power is also gone.

What this book really comes down to one question: What would you do to survive? Because these are teens (and young teens at that), different factors come in to play than those that would if they were adults. Will the usual cliques remain? Who, if anyone, is in charge? What are the consequences of breaking the rules? How do they eat, stay warm, and even use the bathroom? These kids have to use every last bit of their ingenuity to survive; not all of them do.

Despite the fact that I struggled with the enormity of the snowstorm (even growing up in Maine, I couldn’t picture that much snow), I enjoyed this story. My only problem with it was the ending. We get a resolution to the immediate problem, but there is no aftermath. I wanted to know what the ramifications of the storm were outside of the school.

This is a good book for those days when it snows and you wonder if it will ever stop.