If you need a book that you won’t be able to resist to put down… This one is for you! I was enthralled by this prescient middle grade book as soon as I read the first page. Let alone, the cover is captivating itself.

Even though this is set many decades ahead of present time, you can see how realistic the living situation could be if indeed a virus wiped out a majority of the population. I liked that Cleo’s apartment wasn’t completely “tech-ified” but incorporated many elements that would deem futuristic, like distance learning with Mrs. VAIN, her robotic and all-knowing teacher. Mrs. VAIN is the perfect teacher because of how kind, compassionate, and reassuring she is for Cleo. Cleo has many mental breakdowns and Mrs. VAIN was typically there to help her strategize and calm down. Another futuristic aspect I thought was neat was the simulator. Cleo’s dad tries to make a dry grass for a fall-based soccer field and Cleo gets to test it out in the simulator. In this simulator, she can travel anywhere she wants and even meets up with “friends” aka other quarantined kids.

What really kept me on the edge is the mayhem that occurs when Cleo escapes her apartment (I won’t share too much). There are drones that fly everywhere to deliver groceries, home goods, medicine, and more, but the elements that Cleo faces made me so nervous for her. It was wonderful to learn more about her as a person when she was trying to complete this dangerous journey, and how the end of the book just riled me up. I wasn’t expecting to cry, but I sure did. This book needed to be published like yesterday, BUT October 6th will have to do!