If you have any Michael Crichton books on your library shelves and/or your students enjoy Ender’s Game you need Bunker 10 by J. A. Henderson.
At 8pm December 24, 2007, a secret military installation blows up. The book then flashes back to tell about the last day in the lives of the soldiers, scientists, and trapped teens of the complex. What I especially love is that it counts down like 24, with each chapter being a specific time.
Just like a good Crichton book the science is there and gets stretched a little. Sections of the book start out with scientific definitions (imagine my excitement when I read ‘Part II: Genetic Pollution’). But what makes the book are the character interactions between the teens who are not allowed to leave the facility because of the resource/threat that they represent to national security. Lots of action, especially when the government experiment goes wrong and everything starts to fall apart.
Not just a ‘blow stuff up’ book, Bunker 10 makes you sit back and think about the ethics of military technology and what trouble manipulation causes.
- Posted by tallestlibrarianever