Thursday, March 3, 2011
Review : Trapped by Michael Northrop
*Warning: This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.
Release Date: January 1, 2011
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Pages: 240
Source: ARC Tour
The Story:
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...
--via Star Book Tours
Rating: THREE Gold Stars!!!
My Review: One word: CHILLING
When Scotty Weems went to school on Tuesday he had no idea that because of fluffy, white snow flakes his life would never be the same. Not even halfway through the school day did Tattawa Regional High School become a speckle in the wrath of a soon to be historic blizzard. "The day the blizzard started, no one knew that is 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, his two best friends - Jason and Pete -- couldn't have imagined how the snow would bring segregated groups together ... as well as wedge friends apart.
Scotty Weems is an aspiring basketball player who was technically a jock but not quite. He still felt like an outsider. Instead he feels most comfortable with his two best friends, Jason and Pete. Jason Gillispie is a hardcore military buff who wears t-shirts with scary war slogans and has a hobby that consists of created a go-kart he named Flammenwerfer -- which means Flamethrower in German. And Pete Dubois is a just the plain, normal guy of the trio. The highlight of his day is scarfing down pizza rolls and playing video games.
As luck would have it, sophomores Scotty, Jason and Pete weren't the only students to get stuck at their old, arctic high school. Scotty and Pete thought it was a dream come true having a "slumber party" with crushes, freshman girls Krista O'Rea and Julie Anders. Krista is a beautiful, popular girl who was also an athlete that played soccer and basketball. But most importantly, Krista is Scotty's perfect girl - his fantasy. Julie was Krista's best friend, and pretty enough to make Pete reconsider his priorities when it comes to where his allegiance lies.
On that note, being snowed in at school wasn't all meadows, butterflies and couples running towards each other in slow motion. There were three kinks that put a damper on Scotty's and Pete's exclusive time with Krista and Julie. One was Elijah James. He is the weird kid -- the quiet, morbid one who wears ratty old sweaters and spends every free minute in the library. Problem number two, Les - uh, Leslie actually, but don't let him hear you say that - Goddard is that guy. The troublemaker who served semi-permanent detention. The one everyone -- including the teachers -- are afraid of. "Les is bad news, a thug, the kind of guy you just sort of assume is armed in some way." And the third, final and the most serious kink of them all: the snow. The all encompassing double edged sword. The snow that gave Scotty and Pete what they could have only dreamed of -- a week off from school, the girls of their secret fantasies and no adult supervision -- was also the very thing that will most likely kill them all.
Overall, Michael Northrop's novel was a simple read. But there are parts that make you laugh, want to cry and appreciate the simple things in life - like functioning plumbing, a soft bed, and heat. Even when you think you can't read another page somehow the book keeps you ...trapped.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from Trapped: Pete & Scotty:
"I'm serious, man," said Pete. "I'm turtling." [Pete]
I laughed, just because that's such a nasty word. Turtling: when the turd starts poking its head out.
***Check out Michael Northrop's website for more information about him and Trapped: HERE
Happy Reading!
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