#2: Ashes

by Ilsa Bick

Alex is a teenager with a brain tumor. Her parents are dead and she lives with here aunt in Chicago. Despite all the medical treatments administered on her, the tumor isn't going away and she's going to die. So she runs away. She runs to a forest where she and her dad used to camp. There she meets an old man , his dog, and his granddaughter, Ellie, who is an 8 year old brat. After she storms off because of a temper tantrum, a huge zap happens, at least that's how Alex described it. After everything settles down, Ellie returns back and they find out that the old man is dead. They have to stick together after that. Alex realizes the tumor is, for the moment, gone, and she has a super ability with smell. She can smell peoples emotions and such. While walking through the forest, they stumble upon zombies. They run away after that. Later, when they both almost die from wild dogs and a zombie, a boy named Tom saves them and takes them to his camp. After that, it's the three of them. They decide to go North to Minnesota but on the way they're robbed. The robbers also take their truck, Ellie, and her dog after shooting Tom on his thigh. After that, Tom is weaker and Alex has to take care of them both. But the wound gets infected and she has to go ahead to a town to find help. She eventually does, but when they return Tom is gone, kidnapped or murdered. Alex has to return to the town, and live there peacefully, but she doesn't like it. She gets closer to Chris, a boy there, but can't forget Tom. After a while, she runs away from the town, but she finds something worse. Which I shall not tell you or else I'll be spoiling too much. I liked this book because despite being in an apocalyptic world where zombies are taking over and the survivors are trying their hardest to survive, she still has some of the same problems as us, annoying kids(Ellie), confused feelings for boys(Tom and Chris), and rebelling against the leaders(the town of Rule). Connecting with a character helps understand the book better and connect with the character. It's also just a good book, the way it's written helps readers imagine everything that's happening.