Author: Michael Northrop
Publisher: Scholastic
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780545210126
Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 7-10
Genre: Adventure/Thrillers--Survival Stories
Reader’s Annotation: Seven teens trapped by a huge snowstorm must figure out how to survive inside their high school.
Plot Summary
When Scotty and his two friends decide to stay after school during a snowstorm to work on a shop project, they expect to be picked up by their parents within a couple of hours. But as the afternoon wears on, it becomes clear that this was a very bad plan. Cell phone service is knocked out, the snow is piling up, and no cars are getting through any more. The boys head down to wait by the front doors, where they find that two hot freshman girls, a weird guy, a bad kid, and one teacher are stranded, too. Seeing headlights, the teacher heads out into the snow in search of help, but does not return. The first night in the school is like a sleepover. The kids assume the snow will have stopped by morning, so the unusual situation (especially given the presence of the girls) is exciting. Over the next couple of days, though, as the snow fails to let up and the school’s power runs out, they begin hunkering down for survival. They break into the cafeteria for food, figure out how to start a fire, find a single radio frequency that’s still broadcasting, and try to keep the increasingly tense social dynamics under control. When the roof begins collapsing under the accumulated snow’s weight, they know they have to take desperate measures or die.
Critical Evaluation
Language is a problem in this book—not foul language, but the lack thereof. Though the story is about teenagers (one of them an established bad kid) stuck in a stressful situation, there is not a single swear word in the book. Parents will appreciate this, but it’s hardly realistic, and detracts somewhat from the authenticity of the narrator’s voice. The narration is also a little too literal. No instance of foreshadowing—such as the temperature dropping or the lights going out—is allowed to pass unremarked upon (or in fact without being exhaustively explained). Chapters frequently end with pronouncements of doom, such as “We thought that was as bad as it could get” or “We thought it would be the day the plows cleaned up the big storm, life went back to normal, and we went home. We weren’t even close.” Scotty notes in his introduction that “not all of us made it.” All this promises a blockbuster ending that Northrop doesn’t deliver. Instead the book ends abruptly, with lots of loose ends—including such basics as who survived the storm—left unresolved.
However, the details of setting and social dynamics are very well done. The kids discuss and negotiate some decisions, such as when to break into the cafeteria and how to set up their fire, but leave others unspoken, such when to have separate spaces for themselves and when it’s time to stay together to keep warm. Although the social situation is tense, Northrop doesn’t allow stereotypes to rein. I also appreciate that he focuses on the survival story rather than on the potential romances.
Curriculum Ties: N/A
Booktalking Ideas: Imagine being trapped in your high school. What would you eat? What would you do during the day? How would you stay warm after the heat went off?
Challenge Issues: N/A
About the Author
My name is Michael Northrop, and I am a writer living in New York City. I am the author of two YA novels: Gentlemen (2009), one of the American Library Association’s “Best Books for Young Adults,” and Trapped (2011), an Indie Next List selection and a Barnes & Noble “Must-Read for Teens.”
I am originally from Salisbury, Connecticut, a small town in the foothills of the Berkshire mountains. It was a great place to grow up (to the extent that I did), falling out of trees, shooting BB guns at soda cans (and my brother), and kicking field goals for my high school football team.
Since moving to New York to attend NYU, I have worked at The World Almanac and Sports Illustrated Kids, where I was a senior editor from 2000 to 2008. I have moonlighted as a standup comedian, earned a black belt, and taken up running. I’ve been to the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and spring training. And my writing has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated Kids, People Online, The Morning News, Notre Dame Review, McSweeney’s, Weird Tales, and many other places.
Three random facts about me:
1) I am, technically speaking, dyslexic.
2) I once stepped on a yellowjacket nest and was stung approx. 75 times.
3) I am distantly related to Jonathan Swift, who wrote Gulliver’s Travels.
Three of my favorite things:
1) Watership Down (book)
2) Deadliest Catch (TV show)
3) Spicy tuna hand rolls (food)
http://michaelnorthrop.net/?page_id=5
Why is this title included?
I read about this book in an NPR article that identified five recent YA releases with crossover appeal for adults (http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/137456199/hooray-for-ya-teen-novels-for-readers-of-all-ages). Although the reading level is at the young end of our age range, Trapped is a good choice for reluctant readers, especially boys (because of its strong male narrator).