After the Bomb, written by Gloria Miklowitz, is a thrilling novel that takes
place before, during, and after a bomb, which supposedly was sent from Russia by
accident. The disastrous happening alters all of Los Angeles and surrounding
cities. Philip Singer, a teenager, is in a position as leader of the family. His
brother, Matt, is awfully sick, possibly from radiation, his father was away at
work during the blast and for all Philip knows he might be dead, and his mother
was badly injured and needs immediate attention. Hospitals are flooded with
injured and dying people and the government doesn't send help for a few days.
The badly injured don't even get the chance to be helped because the hospitals
have to send the ones that are likely to live to hospitals that specialize in
burns. His mother is so badly burned that the hospitals put her on the bottom of
the list to be flown to burn centers. By the end of the novel Philip has taken
charge, snuck his mom ahead to be flown to a burn center, and in a sense saved
his town from thirst. He truly survived the terror, shock, and danger of the
bomb. The novel goes through a couple of settings such as, Philip's struggle to
keep his family alive, and the conflict between the nature of a nuclear bomb
against the Los Angeles area. When the bomb hits he is playing around in a
playroom shelter with his brother and his girlfriend. They go out to find out
what had happened and found burning houses, their home only left with one wall,
rubble on the ground, debris all over the place, and people running frantically
for shelter. Philip's brother became sick after finding his mother and bringing
her back down to the shelter, and found that his mother had been burnt severely
and needed immediate medical attention. Philip struggles to keep his brother
from getting even sicker and to bring his mother to a hospital. Philip's family
wasn’t the only people affected by the bomb. A devastating bomb pounded the
entire surrounding area of Los Angeles. Churches, hospitals and streets were
flooded with sick, dying, and even dead people. Hospitals that were built to
only withstand 200 people now have thousands, and hospitals lack food, doctors,
and water. Philip's struggle for survival, and the devastating blow against LA
was only the beginning of the disastrous bomb. The setting is practically the
whole plot of the novel showing Philip's struggle to get his mother to a burn
center that could save her life, bring his family to safety, and to save his
town from thirst. When Philip arrives at the hospital with his mom the
government and hospital had already started flying patients to burn centers, but
his mom was too sick and so badly burned that the hospital didn't care for her.
She was placed on the bottom of list to be flown away. Philip secretly switches
the tag on his mom with one that says and earlier number, so that she would be
flown out more promptly. He does so and she is flown out early and he most
probably saved her life by doing so. Another example was when the bomb had just
struck and Philip's family was in the shelter, which wasn't very safe and
stable. He went up to the surface to check out his neighbor's house which was
miraculously intact. Philip found the owner and his wife in good shape and
arranged to bring his family over to the neighbor's cool basement for safety and
refuge. A third example was when the hospital in his town was almost put of
water and Philip was asked by a nurse to find a worker that works with the town'
s plumbing at his house and manage to get water to the hospital. He did so and
after a while drained water from a resident's pool and had it flown down to the
hospital. After the Bomb is an exciting and stimulating novel which shows the
leadership of a teenager over his family. The novel displays a realistic
happening that can happen any second and describes it intricately. It's an
electrifying, terrifying, and exhilarating rush and is an outstanding novel.
Survival was only the beginning.

Bibliography
Miklowitz, Gloria D. After The Bomb. New York. Scholastic, 1993