Rebecca’s Pick: Dry by Jarrod & Neal Shusterman

The California drought, dubbed the “Tap-Out,” has reached a boiling point. Tensions are high as people resort to desperate measures to find water.

Alyssa finds herself right in the middle of the desperation with the added responsibility of taking care of her little brother, Garrett, since her parents didn’t come home from the beach where the water supply trucks were supposed to be stationed.

Luckily for Alyssa her neighbor, Kelton, is a known “doomsday prepper” and he’s offered to take Alyssa and Garrett to his family’s “bug out.” Kelton assures her that there are plenty of supplies – most importantly water – and they can stay there until everything blows over.

Of course, it’s never that easy, is it?

The way the authors described the fallout after the catastrophe of running out of water felt so convincing, I started to contemplate my own actions if faced with this kind of a situation. And yes, I also made sure to keep a glass of water with me when I was reading, because it definitely made me thirsty.

The reader gets points of views from not only the main two characters, but from secondary people along the way. This was helpful to gain a better understanding of people’s actions, as frustratingly selfish as they might seem at times.

Winner of the ALA Best Book for Young Adults, I would recommend Dry to anyone who enjoys dystopian/post-apocalyptic YA books. I will say that Dry was a little atypical of the usual dystopian novel, because of the realness of the drought and the fact that it was set in present day and not in some distant future.