Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S.

Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice-for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. 11 & up)Īre we not men? We are-well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).Ī zombie apocalypse is one thing. Each of these stories offers well-developed characters, both male and female, within an interesting plot, and their brevity makes them an apt choice for reluctant teen readers.

For Girl Who Hears Stones, it’s a white pebble her grandmother presents to her before heroically offering herself up to certain death to protect the rest of her tribe, in a retelling of an episode of Cree history from Saskatchewan. William clings to his lucky rock, reminded of his own childhood brush with death as he watches his father’s life slip away Rodney, a very independent teen with Down Syndrome, carries his ID card on his way to boogie-boarding with surfer pals where he is truly “One of the Boys” Taylor (who first appeared in Wild Orchid, 2005) maintains a determined hold on hope as she navigates the minefield a job interview presents to a teen with Asperger’s Syndrome. An entertaining collection of 12 varied short stories unified by a common theme: The protagonists are all hanging on to something.

Wild orchid by beverley brenna