Author: Cindy

TITLE: Trapped
AUTHOR: Michael Northrop
PAGES: 240
PUBLISHER: Scholastic

SOURCE: Received from another blogger Tina at Book Shipper. This is an ARC.

Synopsis from Scholastic
The day the blizzard started, no one knew that it was going to keep snowing for a week. That for those in its path, it would become not just a matter of keeping warm, but of staying alive?

Scotty and his friends Pete and Jason are among the last seven kids at their high school waiting to get picked up that day, and they soon realize that no one is coming for them. Still, it doesn’t seem so bad to spend the night at school, especially when distractingly hot Krista and Julie are sleeping just down the hall. But then the power goes out, then the heat. The pipes freeze, and the roof shudders. As the days add up, the snow piles higher, and the empty halls grow colder and darker, the mounting pressure forces a devastating decision…

MY THOUGHTS:
This is Michael Northrop’s second book young adult book. His first book is called Gentlemen and it was one of the (ALA) American Library Association’s “Best Books for Young Adults” for 2010.

Michael Northrop says the book is like the movie Breakfast Club meets a blizzard.

Michael Northrop’s TRAPPED, in which seven mismatched students must adapt in order to survive when they are stranded at their high school without heat or power during a massive, week long blizzard.

I was really excited to read this book. I love the idea behind the book. Although if I had to be stuck anywhere during a blizzard I would have to say give me a bookstore any day. Wouldn’t you agree? Although I have to say when we got the ice storm in I believe 1998 I was working at a bookstore at the time and still had to show up for work just in case the power came back on and it really wasn’t fun. Granted I was able to take books to read but sitting and reading in the cold just wasn’t alot of fun.

I grew up in a rural community in northern New Brunswick. (Right across from the Gaspe) and our winters were brutal to say the least. There was only one way into town at the time, but since moving to Quebec they ended up building a highway. If the weather was really bad from the turn (before the turn it was woods and once you hit the turn it was open water on the left hand side)down the government would pull the ploughs off the road. You were literally stranded and cut off from the rest of the world.

Thankfully we never had a week long blizzard like the book had.

I enjoyed reading the book and I have to say I ended up reading it fairly quickly. There was always something happening that made you want to continue reading.

The characters in the book (seven of them) made me think of the Breakfast Club when I was reading it. They are all different and even though they knew each other they aren’t friends. It wasn’t really the movie but the different mix of kids being forced together who might normally not be.

The story is told by fifteen year old Scotty. The snow is falling pretty steadily that morning of school and when its finally announced school is going to be cancelled he is enticed by his two friends Pete and Jason convince Scotty to stay and help them out in the shop. Going against his better judgement he decides to stay because Jason said his dad would pick him up.

They are forced to wait by the gym with four other kids and a teacher who are all waiting to get picked up. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen because as they are sitting there its snowing harder and harder and slowly accumulating. With a promise of headlights appearing the teacher heads out to get help from the driver but he never returns. Hmm what happened to the teacher?

Thinking it will only be for the night the kids bunk down and try to make the most of it. They have heat and electricity. They wake up the next morning to see its still snowing and accumulating. The kids quickly realize that they are stranded and no one is coming for them. The are hungry and decide to break into the cafeteria for some food.

Before long they have no electricity. no heat and no connection to the outside world apart from a radio they find in the school. The blizzard has shut the city down. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the kids were managing to survive on their own and they didn’t turn the school into a wild party. They were all well behaved kids. The coped to the best of the abilities. Heads butted but I am sure if we were stuck in that situation that eventually we would fight too.

I am wondering if there will be a sequel because I am curious about what happened once Scotty was rescued and what happened to everyone else. Aren’t you?

I like the cover its very suiting of the book and I am not sure if you noticed (if you read the book) but as you progress in each chapter you can see the snow slowly starting to accumulate.