Review: Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Monument 14
Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Publish Date: June 5, 2012
Trade Paperback {p.294}
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult
Dean Grieder
Challenge: 100+
Buy the Book: Amazon

Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.

Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.

But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

Reading this novel was like getting caught up in a block-buster movie. I truly couldn't put it down.

It starts out straight to the point. Once they're taken shelter in the neighborhood Greenway Store, they elect a leader and try to deal with the situation the best way they can. For some, that means self-medicating.

All the characters bring something the to the table. There were no useless characters to be found. Yes, there are some irrating, pain in the behind characters but they all served a purpose. For instance, Brayden, one of the popular jocks, ,I couldn't stand from minute one. But every novel needs its jerk, right? Even in the time of a national crisis he's still the obnoxious bully.

But on the flip side, I loved the characters that the kids found annoying. Namely, Batiste, Chloe and Max, three of the six little kids trapped in the store. I could help but laugh at their antics and love the adorable little twins, Henry and Caroline. I couldn't help but want a very happy outcome for the both of them with their mother.

The writing was excellent; the author did a great job of capturing the voice of every character right down to the kindergarteners. It was left unfinished so I'm hoping that means a sequel. There are so many unknowns in the end that it would be downright cruel to not offer up some kind of follow-up if only to tie up the loose ends. This is definitely one of those books that by the last page you'll be screaming at the book, "Wait, what happens next!?!"