Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy. As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way. A riveting and astonishing story.
I vote no. This novel tells the story of a self-absorbed teen who prides herself in her anorexia, who is initially unconcerned with the war around her except for ways it directly impedes her own life, who admires the "cool" smoking of her 14-year old cousin, and who subsequently falls in love with and starts having sex with said cousin. The story is still readable: The narrator/main character Daisy goes through some growth as a person, but is so far from the kind of person I would hope students emulate or learn from that I would not recommend this book. There are few things going for the book in terms of interesting or complex writing style or thought-provoking universal themes. It simply tells the story of a girl who falls in love with her quirky cousin and survives a war--a war whose purpose is never explained though its existence provides the central conflict in the novel. I couldn't justify requiring students to read this for several reasons: permissive attitudes about underage (incestuous) sex, romanticization of smoking ( referenced a few times) and anorexia (referenced frequently), and apathy toward the suffering of others (though the protagonist grows out of this sort of).
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