The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Reviewed by Lori
Dead And The Gone
Title: The Dead and the Gone

Series: The Last Survivors Series

Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Perma-Bound Catalogue #: 25844

Description: After a meteor hits the moon and sets off a series of horrific climate changes, seventeen-year-old Alex Morales must take care of his sisters in the chaos of New York City.

Rubric Rating: Level 3 - Laud It

Why I Read It: I enjoyed the first book in this series so much I had to read the next book.

Lori's Notes: The Dead and the Gone focuses on Alex and his sisters Julie and Bri in New York City during the same time period as Miranda and her family in Life as we Knew It.  Being parallel novels, either book can be read first but I recommend reading this one second.  We meet Alex and his sisters at the time of the moon crash.  We never meet his mother or father and the kids are left to fend for themselves in their apartment in the city. Food, clothing, and heat quickly become issues and they must break into apartments and steal from the dead if they are going to survive.  Alex's sister Bri has been accepted to a summer camp program but the nun's refuse to take his younger sister insisting that they can not care for more girls than they have already allowed.  The family decide to separate to give each a better chance at survival but in the end that decision also fails as Bri develops asthma and must return to the city.  Desperate, Alex will do whatever it takes to keep his sisters safe.  A very interesting read and at times a little gruesome.  I have compassion for Alex as he struggles to support his sisters and keep his faith.

Recommended Readers: Grade 7 and Up.  An interesting novel study if half the class studied Life as We Knew It, and the other half read The Dead and the Gone.  Students could then compare notes about survival in the country vs. the city.

Themes: Siblings, Dystopian, Survival, Faith, Natural Disasters, Parallel Novels.

Cross-Genre Links: 
Movie: The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Music: New York, New York performed by Frank Sinatra
Media Search: Chelyabinsk Meteor 2013

Post Reading Discussion Questions and Activities: 

  • How is Alex's faith tested during The Dead and the Gone and how does having faith in a crisis help?
  • What happens to Alex's parents?  How do the teens survive on their own? 
  • After reading Life and We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone, compare Miranda and Alex's experiences.  How are the similar and how are they unique.
  • Siblings play a large role in both novels - Miranda has two brothers and Alex has two sisters.  How does having siblings simplify/complicate the main characters lives.
  • Would you rather be in Miranda's shoes or Alex's?  Why?


Other Titles in this Series: 
Book 1: Life as We Knew It
Book 3: The World we Live In
Book 4: The Shade of the Moon

Other Titles by Susan Beth Pfeffer:
Blood Wounds


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