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Book Review of The Scavengers

The Scavengers
The Scavengers
Author: Michael Perry
Genre: Children's Books
Book Type: Hardcover
katydid597 avatar reviewed on + 48 more book reviews


First, let me tell you I won this audio book through a goodreads giveaway. I love you guys, all of you! I really liked the book and the narrator did a terrific job. We had to make a 2,400 mile trip to visit family and friends, and this book make it bearable.

Maggie, our 12 year old heroine, has renamed herself Ford Falcon in order to sound as fierce as she imagines herself to be. She and her family, mom, dad and younger brother Dookie (Henry) live "out-bubble" in her world. The food supply had become severely limited, and the government allowed the population to choose whether they would live "In-Bubble", in cities built under domes, where they would be able to access UR corn, the only real food available, or live as Maggie's family did, in a pioneer fashion, gathering foodstuffs and fending off varmints, both animal and human. Most humans in out-bubble were almost zombie-like in appearance, and mainly emerged from hiding at night, when they met around bonfires and drank Partswash, a home-made liquor. They would attack Maggie and her friend Toad, who seemed to be a surrogate uncle, and Toby, a neighbor boy, when they made trips to the settlement to trade for supplies.

The story follows Ford's life and gives the back story of why her father chose to relocate outside the bubbles, and I feel it portrays a life that would be very similar to what our early pioneers encountered - no access to what we consider the absolute necessities in our modern-day world.

Don't want to do any spoilers, but I think anyone over the age of 12 would really enjoy this story, and with no sex and no over-the-top violence, I thought it was great!