Z for Zachariah

By: Robert C. O'Brien

Narrated by: Christina Moore

In this post-apocalyptic novel from Newbery Medal–winning author Robert C. O’Brien, a teen girl struggling to survive in the wake of unimaginable disaster comes across another survivor.

Ann Burden is sixteen years old and completely alone. The world as she once knew it is gone, ravaged by a nuclear war that has taken everyone from her. For the past year, she has lived in a remote valley with no evidence of any other survivors.

But the smoke from a distant campfire shatters Ann’s solitude. Someone else is still alive and making his way toward the valley. Who is this man? What does he want? Can he be trusted? Both excited and terrified, Ann soon realizes there may be worse things than being the last person on Earth.

ALA Notable Children's Books • Horn Book Fanfare • ALA Best Books For Young Adults • Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults • ALA Best of the Best Books for Young Adults • Edgar Allan Poe Award

©1974 Sally Conly (P)1999 Recorded Books

We love this book!

This is a great story on how to survive off the grid. I love how the author includes so much detail on how Ann made life work so well. I've always wished there was a second book.

Very Interesting

I read this book in high school, and liked it. I watched the movie and felt they had changed almost all of it. After reading it again I see for sure they changed too much for the movie. I still thoroughly enjoyed the beginning, but became rather frustrated towards the end. It ended up being fairly poetic, but I struggle to imagine that I would have handled the situation in the same way.

Interesting but a bit troubling

This is an interesting though somewhat depressing story, though it tries to end on a hopeful note. The main character is very compelling, and easy to care for. But the scenario is strangely bleak and the situations she finds herself in are painful to experience. It is a survival story, a story of perserverance despite miserable, hopeless situation, and a strange comment on human nature in some ways.

It is odd to class this as a kid story. I think older teens might be appropriate but I don't know if I would say it is right for anyone 13 or under. It deals with some troubling stuff - attempted rape of a young teen, a murder attempt on the same teen by an older man, etc. Not to say that kids can't take it, but it just seems a bit mature in some of its material for children, in my opinion, so parents are warned and may want to listen first.

THe main character feels very real and human and well developed and it is easy to care about her. That said, the other main character, the man who comes into her valley is a bit dispicable and frustrating and her reaction to him is at times frustrating. She has more patience and goodness and strength in her than many would, I think, though it is hard to say as we don't live in a post apocolyptic world where almost no people are left.

Overall, it was a sad but interesting story, and her plight was engaging and she was very likable so easy to follow... But as I said, the material is too mature for kids I think, some of the relationship is odd and frustrating and hard to understand and despite its hopeful note at the end, overall it is a bleak and sad story... Still it was entertaining and I think worth a listen.

Love this! I wish it was a series!

Loved this book, I wish there was a series because I want to know more!

Fantastic

Even with difficult subject matter this books heroine is inspiring. She never loses her integrity. She inspires with hard work, ingenuity, determination, humility, kindness, mercy in the face of injustice.