"DRY" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

DRY by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman is teen fiction about a drought, or Tap-Out in southern California and the story of how teens Kelton, Jacqui, Alyssa and her younger brother Garrett evacuated on their own in search of a place with water. They pick up another teen, Henry, on the way who decided he couldn’t stay where he was. The group dynamics was both interesting and fascinating. Kelton and Alyssa were neighbors. Kelton’s dad was one who was a firm believer in being prepared to protect his family. Kelton was a bit weird and had a crush on Alyssa. Jacqui was a tough chick who helped save Kelton’s life and he offered to help her by giving her some antibiotics for her cut. Henry was an opportunist.  Alyssa and Garret even have a pet dog which I liked.

This book shows how quickly people can lose their humanity when they get desperate. This is a modern-day horror book. I enjoyed this book because of the adventure the teens went through to just survive and also the interaction and vying for leadership among them. I liked how the story is told from the different perspectives of the main five characters. It was easy to follow because the name of the person telling each part was at the beginning of the section. This made me realize how valuable water is and how much we take it for granted.
 (Karen’s review, 5 stars)

Here's my husband's thoughts, very different from mine:
Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman is about a group of teens who are dealing with a tap out, which means there is no water to be had!  This book fell flat for me.  There were some exciting parts that made me think, "Okay, here we go," but no!  The story line was okay.  I had no trouble with that, but I only enjoyed a few of the characters and others I found annoying.  I give this book 3.5 because I just really never got into it at all.

Teaser from page 12: As I look around the stacks of drinks, I find a single case of water that someone abandoned there maybe yesterday, when it wasn’t such a precious commodity. I reach for it, only to find it pulled away at the last second by a thin woman with a beak of a nose.

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