Bibliographic Information:
Title: Prepped
Author: Bethany Mangle
ISBN: 9781534477506
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Copyright Date: 2021
Format/Genre:
Novel/Realistic Fiction/Contemporary Romances (Prepped: NoveList Plus - Powered by EBSCOhost, n.d.)
Awards and Honors (Prepped, 2022):
CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children’s Book Council)
Kansas NEA Reading Circle List High School Title
TAYSHAS Reading List (TX)
Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year Selection Title
Reading Level/Interest Level (Bethany, n.d.):
Grades 9 and up.
Plot Summary:
Becca Aldaine is not your average 17-year-old, although she really wishes she were! No, Becca has grown up in a community of “Doomsday Preppers.” She was born into this community, as were her parents before her. All Becca wants to have is a normal teenage existence, and she dreams of attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where she can study physics and get away from the prepper lifestyle. Her parents have other ideas for her though. They have already “arranged” for her to get married to Roy Kang, the son of a neighboring prepper family. In her parents’ eyes, Becca should just get married and continue on with the prepper lifestyle, just as they had to do when they were her age.
Then tragedy strikes the community! And Becca worries about the ramifications of her running away to go to college and leaving her 10-year-old sister Katie with her mother, who seems to be getting deeper and deeper entrenched in the doomsday community (and becoming more unstable) by the day. What will Katie do? She cannot leave her sister here, can she? And what about Roy? Can she trust him when she needs his support the most?
Author Background (BETHANY MANGLE – #APIpit, n.d.):
Bethany Mangle was born in Korea and raised in New Jersey after being adopted. She graduated from Hood College and George Washington University, and even through she writes young adult contemporary fiction, her college degrees have nothing to do with writing! When she isn’t writing she’s either reading, baking (in her words, “questionable cakes”) or spoiling her dog. She currently lives in Mississippi.
Critical Evaluation:
I picked this book as my first book for the TTS blog because of the “doomsday prepper” theme. One of my favorite themes/genres is apocalyptic/end-of-days stories, so I thought this might be close enough to that where I would really enjoy it! It turned out to be more of a YA romance novel than an end-of-days story, and I still could not put it down! Becca’s parents, as well as Roy’s father, are quite evil in the way they treat Becca. But when tragedy strikes, Becca still has love, albeit wistful, for her father.
The evolution of the relationship between Becca and Roy is fun to see. And I was able to feel for Becca in her struggles to just be a “normal” teenager, so it was nice to see the story evolve with her friend Sydney. The last quarter of the book is really action packed, and I did not expect it to end quite the way it did. I now have a fear of dark doomsday prepper bunkers! But all that prepper knowledge pays off for Roy and Becca in the end, so things turn out happily ever after, in a roundabout way.
Creative Use for a Library Program:
Doomsday Prepper Party! Teens can come dressed as what they think a “doomsday prepper” should look like (I have a Mad Max look in my mind). Various “bunker ready” foods can be served – things like canned beans, spam, and ramen noodles. And for one activity, the teens can have a scavenger hunt to find specific books in the library about “living off the grid.” Also, they can share three books they would take into the bunker with them if they were only allowed three books.
Speed-Round Book Talk:
Becca and Roy live in a community of “doomsday preppers” and it has been decided they should get married, even though Becca isn’t really interested in Roy – but Roy really likes Becca! Becca hates the community she lives in and wants to run away to college in Pittsburgh. An unexpected tragedy strikes the community, driving Becca and Roy closer together, with Becca seeing that she and Roy are actually more alike than she thought! Can they join forces to escape the community (and their parents), or are they destined to live there forever and never live out their dreams?
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation:
There is some underage drinking, some kissing and getting undressed (but no sex), and some swearing in this book, so potentially some parents could be turned off by those subjects. But overall, this book is pretty tame even with those subjects included, and at its core it is a YA romance novel with some action and suspense, so I do not think this would be a difficult book to defend.
Reason for Inclusion:
I stated this above, but I will say it again. I am a huge fan of apocalyptic/end of the world fiction, so when I saw the title/cover/theme of this book I thought it would be something I’d be interested in – I didn’t even read the synopsis of the book before reading. Turned out it was more of a YA romance and I loved it!
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