The tragedy this week in Haiti is like a page out of the book “Life as we Knew It” by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

Over the past few days I’ve been compelled to read the diary entries of 16-year-old Miranda as she chronicles the way life on earth changes following a natural disaster. This is the ultimate natural disaster story: the moon alters its course after being struck by an asteroid and the change in gravitational pull results in tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, and drastic climate change.

Through months of decreasing resources Miranda, her mother and two brothers pull closer together to help each other survive. Without electricity or ability to buy more food, gas, etc. the family rations their supplies and voluntarily fast to allow each other to survive. Despite blizzards and freezing temperatures as early as August, the family chops wood every day to burn in their wood stove. When a flu epidemic decimates a majority of the world’s population Miranda nurses her family back to health, but when starvation seems imminent, Miranda leaves her home so that her death might not grieve them so badly. The situation seems grim, but the outcome is actually hopeful. Read it for a chance to vicariously experience the fight for daily survival if all our modern conveniences were suddenly to disappear.