Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman

 

I can't remember exactly how I found Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman, but it was probably on one of my customary runs through the young adult section of Barnes and Noble. I was a big fan of Neal Shusterman's Challenger Deep, so I was very interested in reading more from him. Plus, this novel is a standalone, which was a nice break from the crazy amount young adult fiction series I'm involved in. I decided to finally pick this one up early this week to see if it would be a good addition to my middle school classroom library.

The plot of the novel follows a small handful of teen characters during an extreme drought in California. The main two are a girl named Alyssa and her neighbor Kelton. Alyssa is a typical high school student living with her parents and her younger brother Garrett. She's level-headed, kind, and responsible. On the other hand, Kelton's life is not typical at all. His parents are survivalists and have spent years amassing supplies and weapons for the eventual collapse of society. His house is protected by strong locks and bulletproof glass and Kelton has an encyclopedic knowledge of survival skills. They couldn't be more different from each other, but they are thrown together when the drought finally causes the water in their region to dry up entirely. This event comes to be known as "The Tap-Out," and it changes everyone's lives in scary, brutal ways.

With the taps dry, society quickly degenerates into chaos as everyone enters desperation mode. Bottled liquids sell out immediately and people begin looting buildings and attacking one another in pursuit of more. Disaster relief from the government is slow to come and completely inadequate when it does start arriving. As people begin to die from thirst, Alyssa and Kelton are forced to set out on a dangerous and desperate mission to find some water before their time runs out.

This novel was very engaging and surprisingly intense. The writing style was easy to read and the narration changing between characters kept things moving at a quick pace. The authors did an excellent job of keeping a realistic and pressing sense of danger running throughout the text and the way they wrote about the characters ever-growing thirst felt downright harrowing. I found myself feeling thirsty in sympathy as I was reading. I was drawn into the story right away and was consistently rooting for the characters to find ways to survive. The exception to that was Alyssa's younger brother. After he accidentally ruined the family's only drinking water I was ready for Alyssa to abandon him in the woods. Just kidding. Kind of.

I found Kelton's character to be the most interesting. He's grown up in a doomsday prepper's household, giving him a unique advantage in this situation. He has to balance the good parts of that, however, with the bad. His father is a paranoid, coldhearted man that rules with an iron fist. Nothing Kelton ever does is good enough, and he's constantly trying to earn his approval. As the Tap-Out brings his community to the brink of disaster, he witnesses his father behaving in ways that he disagrees with deeply, and he has to figure out for himself how far away to step from his father's wishes. I liked this exploration of what might happen in a survivalist family if societal collapse actually occurred. 

Of course, I have to mention the disturbing reflection of real world conditions present in Dry. There are real water shortages occurring in the Southwest U.S. now, and just like in the story, there haven't been a lot of substantial measures put in place to fix it. People largely don't take it seriously. Could a situation like The Tap-Out occur in California for real one day? It's not impossible. Dry was published in 2018, and the water shortages have only gotten worse since then. Stories like this could go a long way in getting young people to understand the importance of water and inspiring them to advocate for more conservation measures.

Overall, I thought Dry was a great read. It's a young adult book that will firmly keep the interest of young adults, and I don't often feel that way about a lot of the YA books that I pick up these days. It also has a great environmental message that has only become more relevant over time. It's a little intense for middle schoolers, but it's a great choice for older teens. I'm glad I gave this one a try.

Challenge Tally

Total Books Read in 2022: 74