The whole town including Charlie and his friends had gathered together to celebrate the New Year and also to watch what was supposed to be an extra spectacular night viewing of the northern lights. Rodman Philbrick’s THE BIG DARK begins with the town standing out on the baseball field under a sky that is so bright that “shadows could be seen on the snow,” enjoying the intense colors and flashes of the light show. Suddenly there the sky was filled with an enormous burst of light followed by intense darkness.
All the electric power was knocked out, no cars, no phones, no lights, no TVs
or radios—nothing not even batteries or generators. Things get even worse when
the area is hit by a major blizzard, an attempted take-over of the town by
hate-mongers and arsonists and a medical emergency involving Charlie’s
mother. It’s up to the kids and the
town’s lone volunteer policeman to save the day if they can in this very
suspenseful disaster-survival story.
The author includes some follow-up leads for the curious who want to know more about geomagnetic events.
For grades 5-8
No comments:
Post a Comment