Pfeffer, Susan Beth. the dead & the gone

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. The dead & the gone. Harcourt, 2008 [978-0-15-206311-5]
This book is related to "Life as we knew it", telling of the same disaster, this time in NYC. The life of Alex and his family is suddenly changed when the asteroid hits the moon. When the flood and tsunamis come, his mom is on the subway to work and his father is visiting family in Puerto Rico. Always hoping his parents will return, Alex and his two sisters fight to survive as society crumbles in New York City. Things are terrible but every morning he goes "body shopping", searching the bodies of the deceased, finding anything of value he can trade for food. This 321 is as depressing as "Life as we knew it." These books are not for elementary students, both of them sent me into a terrible melancholy mood. The reader experiences the total collapse of society as we know it.