The World Ends in April by Stacy McAnulty

"We're running out of time. You need to be ready. 

Stay home tomorrow. 

Stock up on all the food, water, and medicine that you can. 

This event could change the world for months or more likely years"

Has this title caught your attention?  Are you thinking - oh it's okay this is May - April is far far away. But wait a minute why will the world end in April? Who says this will happen? How do they know? If this is indeed true what do we need to do to prepare? If the world ends will anyone survive?

During the time of COVID-19 it might seem curious that I would pick up this book from my local bookseller (Beachside Bookshop Avalon). So why did I choose this book?

• The title caught my attention (and I suspect it has caught yours too!)
• I have read some other books by Stacy McAnulty - picture books Beautiful and Brave
• I really 'enjoy' dystopian stories and the blurb gave the impression of this genre - in fact it is really more of a school story and the setting is right now in the present not in some imagined future
• A previous novel by Stacy McAnulty (as presented on the back cover) received star reviews from Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly - The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl.

Eleanor (Elle or Norie) reads a report on the internet from a Harvard University Professor called Dr Martin Cologne. He has put out a warning to the world that Asteroid 2010PL7, which is more than 5km across, is set to hit our Earth in Spring (US season). We are heading for a global catastrophe. Elle checks the internet further and discovers 2010PL7 is a near earth asteroid but nowhere does NASA say this asteroid is headed toward Earth.  Now Elle has a series of huge dilemmas.  Should she believe Dr Cologne? Should she tell others in her family and school about this impending terrible event? How can she prepare?

By coincidence Elle's grandfather Joe is prepper - "someone who spends their time and money preparing for the apocalypse." So Elle begins her preparations, she tries to convince the adults in her life, such as her dad, that this disaster is real, she forms a club at school with other kids who believe Dr Cologne and who want to be prepared and she works hard to inform and protect her closest (only) friend Mack who has a vision impairment.

Meanwhile Mack is preparing to leave the school and move to a residential school for the blind.  Elle is devastated. She needs Mack and she cannot imagine life especially life at school without him by her side. I should also mention that there are only 130 days to get everything organised.

You can read and listen to a text extract on the publisher web site. The back of the book has some useful additional information:

• Impact of other asteroids through history - Chicxulub 66 million years ago; Chesapeake Bay 35 millions years ago; Tunguska 30th June 1908; Chelyabinsk 15th February 2013.
• Definitions list - asteroid; comet; meteor; meterorite; meteroid.
• NASA Asteroid Facts
• Preparing for disasters - Readiness kit; Build a kit; Basic supplies list; Additional emergency supplies
• How to identify legitimate sources on the internet
• Acronyms - you do need to know TEOTWAWKI - The end of the world as we know it!
• Sources used to research this book - website and book list bibliography

I liked the pace of this story, I enjoyed the developing relationships, the disaster preparations were interesting but I did find the final reveal when we discover why Elle is so driven by this potential disaster was not really a strong enough plot point for me. That said I would recommend this book for readers 10+ as it is a fascinating topic especially at this time in our world when we have lockdowns and social isolation and the very real threat of the COVID virus.

Watching these kids spiral into paranoia, fueled by a fraudulent internet tale of conspiracies, makes for compelling reading. A page-turner. Kirkus

The book effectively captures the stress and sadness of young people projecting their anxiety onto an external event, and it'srealistic in its lack of neat and happy solution. Bulletin of the Centre for Children’s Books

I find this to be the perfect middle school book! The plot line of an upcoming doomsday weaves perfectly in with the feeling you have when you’re nearing high school and everything is changing.The characters in the book are all delightful, from Mack’s predilection for funny accents and keeping positive, to Londyn’s athlete-meets-rock-star vibes,to Grandpa Joe’s eagerness to connect with his grand kids on an apocalyptic level, to Eleanor, who is just trying to survive in more ways than one. Cannonball Read

I would pair The World ends in April with Catch a Falling Star by Meg McKinlay.