​The Last Kids on Earth meets Margaret Peterson Haddix in this middle grade adventure about fourteen-year-old Izzy, an autistic girl surviving the end of the world who must team up with her loveable dog to uncover the hidden truth behind her family and the rest of humanity's disappearance.    Ever since Izzy Wilder's mom died, she's wanted life to feel normal. She plays video games with her little sister, helps her grandparents around the house, and takes care of her best dog, Akka. But losing her mom is far from normal, and for Izzy, who is autistic, it feels like the end of the world. When mysterious lights flash across the mountains outside Izzy's house one night, and suddenly everyone except her and Akka seem to have disappeared in an instant, Izzy is more alone than ever. But Izzy is a fighter and she won't lose anyone else in her family, even if it means battling terrifying gray, ugly monsters and decoding cryptic messages that seem a lot like her mom talking to her from beyond the grave. In the face of disaster, Izzy and Akka embark on an epic adventure filled with nail-biting suspense, unexpected allies, and life's greatest mysteries as they uncover the true endurance of the human spirit and save the world. Gr 5 Up—Fourteen-year-old Izzy's life takes a dramatic turn when her grandparents and sister, Maple, disappear after white lights appear in the sky over her home in Vermont. After surviving an attack by the "gray uglies" that arrived on mysterious spaceships that appeared in the sky, Izzy takes her dog Akka and sets out to find her family. While packing, Izzy discovers an old journal written by her mother along with a CD of her favorite songs. As she seeks to escape the uglies, she learns that her mother, though gone, experienced abductions by these same aliens and has left clues behind in her journal and on the CD. She finds a truck just before meeting Raven, another survivor. Clues found at the local library lead the two up Mount Equinox to find a crashed UFO and hopefully, their families. In addition to fighting off the uglies they keep running into, Izzy struggles with the newfound knowledge of her mother's suicide, her own panic attacks and anxiety, and her growing feelings for Raven. Izzy's story packs a punch in terms of both Izzy's struggle to cope despite her autism and the desperate situation she and Raven find themselves facing. Issues related to both teens' bisexuality, social differences, uncaring fathers, and bullying also come up as they face their anxieties and the possible end of the world. VERDICT An emotionally powerful novel wrapped up in an action-packed science fiction survival story. Consider purchasing where sci-fi and/or novels deftly touching on such topics are needed.—Heidi Grange ​ K. A. Reynolds  is a poet and author from Winnipeg, Canada, currently residing in Maine. Her debut novel is  The Land of Yesterday,  followed by  The Spinner of Dreams.  Her superpowers include risqué Mad Libs, smiling, and saving spiders from certain peril. When not typing, daydreaming, or caring for the elderly, she enjoys swapping bad jokes with her numerous offspring, herding various furry beasts, and reading strange and colorful tales expertly crafted by other imagination astronauts in love with words. Visit her at www.kareynoldsbooks.com