Ashen Winter

Gr 9 Up–Following the cataclysmic volcanic eruption in Yellowstone Park and the resulting volcanic winter, nationwide drops in temperature, and devastating snowfalls led to mass starvation and widespread lawlessness in Ashfall (Tanglewood, 2011). Separated from his family, Alex and Darla, a resourceful girl he met on the road, made their way to his uncle’s farm. In this book, Alex gets word that his parents may still be alive and the teens head out into a very dangerous world to try to find them.  Mullin’s heroes are forced into horrendous situations where they deal with cannibals, slavers, corrupt government officials, and other nasty characters. Stomach-turning descriptions of brutality and strong language may offend some readers, but teens who enjoyed Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008) and Michael Grant’s Gone (HarperTeen, 2008) will find Mullin’s story equally engaging.–Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library,  AK