The Eleventh Plague

January 2, 2012
Fifteen-year-old Stephen Quinn and his father travel the desolate, depopulated, and despoiled landscape of what was once the United States. Ravaged by war and an enhanced form of influenza—labeled the Eleventh Plague—two-thirds of the populace are dead. Stephen and his father exist as scavengers, traversing the ruined, hostile countryside searching for anything to help keep them alive. When Stephen’s father is injured and falls into a coma, the duo is rescued by the inhabitants of Settler’s Landing, a town that seems to have escaped the ravages of war and plague. But Stephen soon learns that even the most idyllic of places can harbor darkness, hatred, and danger. Dan Bittner skillfully narrates this postapocalyptic YA novel. His reading conveys the adolescent angst and confusion of the novel’s protagonist a believable way, enabling listeners to understand Stephen’s often-misguided actions. The voices Bittner creates are unadorned and uncomplicated, while his delivery of dialogue is natural and straightforward. An entertaining listen for young adults—and the not so young. A Scholastic hardcover.

July 4, 2011
Although it relies on some increasingly common dystopian tropes, Hirsch's debut novel is an impressive story with strong characters. A generation after China released a weaponized plague on the U.S., the nation is in ruins, and 15-year-old Stephen wanders the country as a scavenger. Shortly after Stephen's grandfather dies, his father has an accident crossing a river and is incapacitated. Stephen finds himself at the small village of Settler's Landing, where a group of survivors have created an isolated haven of sorts, a far cry from the life Stephen is used to. While there, he meets Jenny, a girl of Chinese descent who is ostracized because of her race. Even as Stephen worries about his father's fate (and his own), he begins to fall for Jenny, and they are both drawn into the horrors of their world, sometimes through their own miscalculated actions. Hirsch delivers a tight, well-crafted story, and although the world-building is light on detail regarding the global cataclysm and its aftermath, most readers will be able to accept the hand-waving and enjoy the action and danger. Ages 12âup.

Ten years after the U.S. has been devastated by biological warfare wrought by China, Stephen and his family survive by scavenging the American landscape. Dan Bittner skillfully embodies the teen as tragedy strikes and Stephen must suddenly fend for himself. Ending up in a real town for the first time ever, Stephen experiences conflict between his distrust of strangers and his longing for the idyllic existence he glimpses. Each outburst, each emotional shutdown, each request for help is perfectly believable when presented in Bittner's even but emotionally layered delivery. When Stephen befriends Jenny, a girl ostracized because of her Chinese heritage, a prank incites war in the town. Bittner's well-tempered narration suits both the action scenes and the moral conundrums that follow. J.M. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine


Endy - This book overall really got me inspired to write my personal dystopian story of the rebelling of Androids in Detroit because of how well it described the world around the main character and all the challenges that lay ahead of him as well as the fight to become civilized in a world that won’t allow it. Stephen is just a 15 year old, but he did things that even the toughest man would shed blood and tears just to do them. He is the prime example of someone who was raised in -and accustomed to- hell who also went through the greatest possible pain of becoming less savage. Though the ending was not as nostalgic as I thought it would be with all the bulging sadness before it, I liked this book and I recommend it to you all, especially for those looking to find out how teens flirt during apocalypses.