Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The primary thing parents need to know is that this is not necessarily a “light” story. This comes from a couple of main factors, the intensity of certain perilous situations and the interaction of the brothers throughout. --- The author uses several very serious situations to draw you into the action. This includes a couple of scenes where the boys are held at gunpoint. In the most dangerous, a man wakes the two boys up in their own home at night with a gun to their head and proceeds to keep in on them during a robbery. There is a threat that the man will “blow their brains out”. Later in the story when things get really hard there is a comment that they might as well have pulled the trigger (because things seem very bleak, it is like the bad guys effectively did take their lives). Something similar happens again on the road where a man holds a rifle to the young boy and makes him give up his canteen. When they sneak into an area where these same bad guys are camped, another intense scene unfolds. There is also a very real sense of danger throughout of dying from dehydration and food. Through this whole long ordeal, they are without any parental guardian. This is obviously not for all readers. --- The more disappointing aspect of the concerning content is the interaction of the brothers. It would have been so much more enjoyable if they had banded together and grown closer throughout the book. Instead, for 95% of the book they treat each other in a way no Christian parent would want modeled for their own children. The brothers are unkind. Constantly frustrated with each other. Always going back and forth. Calling names and making sarcastic remarks. Sabotaging and lying to each other. While this is meant to be nicely wrapped up and partially justified at the very end, it doesn’t remove the impact on the reader throughout. Even when they do something sacrificial, it still doesn’t feel loving and kind. This is likely the primary talking point with your child if you do choose to let them read this. --- As we see a lot in books today the main character is not all that “good” (where have all of the good & virtuous main character’s gone!). As an example, at one point he says, that he’s not usually one to hold a grudge, but that he hopes that one of the bad characters chokes on a grotesquely large chunk of canned chicken and dies. Even little things like not being all that kind to his dad, coming across as lazy with chores, cheating at cards and lying about it when playing a game with his brother are all unnecessary to the story. His brother is even worse. Early in the book there is a mention that he threatens to run away or kill himself (never seen as something actually being considered, but still). He is also extremely negative and frustrating throughout. Fortunately, the kids they meet along the way lighten this to an extent. --- All throughout the book there is dialog around the major power outage being due to a “zombie apocalypse”. This is almost always lighter, joking type comments, but they do come up a lot. The most concerning comment here comes when someone tries to cheer up the youngest kid in the group by saying that a bully that was referenced likely already had his tiny brain eaten by a zombie. --- At one point the kids hotwire and steal a car. There are times when the boy has a large knife and references protecting himself with it. The children are reduced to boiling “toilet water” (to decontaminate it for drinking). This is all shown as necessary for survival, but good to know it is there. --- There are several concerning terms/comments to be aware of: jerk/stupid/moron/crap (used quite a bit), “hot as Hades”, “like something out of a horror movie”, “like she just caught us drowning puppies”, suck up, stubborn jerk, idiot, completely screwed.