Trapped

by Michael Northrup
PRMS discard, paperback 232 pages
genre: YA suspense, survival

Published in 2011, I removed this from my collection because of water damage it had sustained (not sure when or by whom). It sounded intriguing enough that I wanted to read it to see if it was worth replacing. Seven kids are stuck at school when a monster snowstorm sends everyone else home early. Theoretically, parents are on the way to get them. The teacher who is with them goes out to get help, since all phone lines are down. He never comes back. It keeps snowing. The power goes out. The heat goes off. The roof collapses on part of the building.

This book had suspense, but not much action (or dynamic character development). The author does a great job of foreshadowing! But not much really happens. And only one person dies for sure (that we know of by the end of the book). Scotty Weems is our narrator, along with his buddies Pete and Jason. Bad boy Les, outcast Elijah, and beautiful girls Krista and Julie are the not-so-interesting kids.

I did like on page 122 and page 155 when the characters decide to pray (since they're on day four and the snow is about 18 feet deep).

 "It was probably the ten thousandth time I'd heard Jason say "Jesus," but it was the first time I'd heard him mean it." So true! People use that precious name of power and sacrifice in such casual and even profane ways. But when people get desperate, they call on Him differently.

 

"Oh, such, now you're religious. Where was that on about fifty-one of the last fifty-two Sundays?" Love this!