Just imagine…. you turn the tap and nothing comes out. At first you might believe the tap is faulty. But none of your 
taps do their normal job. There is NO water. Others discover this quickly. There is a rush on bottled water in the shops. There is a promise from the government to provide this staple item of normal life. But there are millions of people all needing the same thing as you.
This is where Alyssa and her family find themselves. Alyssa, her 10 year old brother Garrett and their parents try to keep calm as they work out what to do next.
In the meantime, Kelton lives next door with his mother and ‘prepper’ father, who for years, has expected some kind of apocalypse – and a dire water shortage soon brings about something close to it. Kelton’s family has not only their own water, but electricity, food and medicine. And it doesn’t take long for others to notice….
Jacqui, another key character; is resourceful, tough and street savvy. Not scared to use a gun or force to achieve her objective – to stay alive, she finds Alyssa and Garrett up against water zombies. These are normal people whose brains are beginning to malfunction due to thirst.
These four aged between 10 to late teens, are determined to survive. This takes them on a journey across the state of California in search of the only thing that now matters – water.
This novel is scary because it is entirely possible in the world we now live in. It taught me many things about how much we rely on water for everything we do – even just keeping the septic drain smell out of our houses by having water in our toilets and the plumbing. No water = smells running rampant through the pipes into your house!
The preppers everyone scoffed at for years, were the least worried. At least until others want what they have. Would you share? Would you run?
This story also has snippets showing different perceptions of water shortages and the ramifications of no water from others in the community. Crowd control, wild-fire fighting, and people-panic. Experience the fallout of losing our most precious resource for yourself. A brilliant read!
Author – Neal Shusterman
Age – 13+
(H20, Water shortage, Thirsty, Share, Prepper, Disaster, Martial Law, Journey, Desperation, Apocalypse, Family, Preparation, Tap-out, Survival)
Hi Arabella. I hope you enjoyed the talk as much as I enjoyed visiting your school! Thanks for checking out What Book Next? and sharing what you found. Dry is a great read indeed.
Hello I am from Howick Intermediate and I was there when you came for the talk. This book sounds very interesting and I have actually told the librarian to get it for the school.