Trapped by Michael Northrop

Release Date: January 1, 2011
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 224
Review Source: Library

Synopsis: (from Goodreads)
The day the blizzard started, no one knew that it was going to keep snowing for a week. That for those in its path, it would become not just a matter of keeping warm, but of staying alive....

Scotty and his friends Pete and Jason are among the last seven kids at their high school waiting to get picked up that day, and they soon realize that no one is coming for them. Still, it doesn't seem so bad to spend the night at school, especially when distractingly hot Krista and Julie are sleeping just down the hall. But then the power goes out, then the heat. The pipes freeze, and the roof shudders. As the days add up, the snow piles higher, and the empty halls grow colder and darker, the mounting pressure forces a devastating decision....

My Thoughts:
‘Trapped’ was a book that I just didn’t want to put down. The situation that the teens in this book find themselves in is absolutely intense. Having started winter off with my entire city and its surrounding area being shut down by close to seven feet of snow I could totally understand the type of snow that was described within the pages of ‘Trapped’. My personal experience with being snowed in helped me get a picture in my mind, but I think even someone in the warmest climate would shiver at the descriptions of the terrible storm within these pages.

Michael Northrop does an amazing job of creating an increasing sense of panic and being trapped, and the incredible book design helps encourage this feeling. The book’s first chapter begins with a double page spread of falling snow and only the bottom covered with white. As each chapter continues on, the level of snow on the page grows higher and higher. I was surprised at how claustrophobic it felt to get to the point of the book where no image of sky remained. The combination of the book’s design and the pace of the writing create a brilliant tale of survival and fear of the unknown.

This book featured fairly strong male characters, and the relationships in the book played out quite interestingly. Northrop created the perfect cast of characters for this story, and they were all interesting and likeable in one way or another. The one weakness of this book, and the reason I couldn’t rate it a 4, is the ending. As a reader I felt cheated. Without getting completely spoilery, I thought it was completely unfair to have gone on this intense survival journey with these characters and then not find out what happened to them. Yes, there is a hint of closure, and you could imagine what happened to the characters, but I don’t want to have to guess the ending. I absolutely would have preferred a concrete ending to the story, whether it was joyous or horrifying. Still, I’m glad I read this book. It was completely engaging, and it is the perfect read to pick up on a cold, wintry day.

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Find Trapped by Michael Northrop on Goodreads, Book Depository, & Amazon.ca