Bodeen, S. A.
THE COMPOUND
New York :  Feiwel and Friends., 2008
IL YA
ISBN 0312370156

(2 booktalks)

There has been a nuclear attack. Eli’s family is rushed down deep underground into the compound his father has spent years perfecting. He has thought of every need they might have during a prolonged stay, from clothes to décor to entertainment, like a miniature world. There was a major problem as they entered though – Eli’s twin brother was out with their grandmother and neither of them made back before Eli’s father shut and sealed the entrance. Eli has a very hard time with this, but his father says to accept it and move on. That the outside world no longer exists, but they are safe here in his compound.  Eli, his 2 sisters, and his parents have now lived inside the compound for 6 years. There are some glitches emerging in his father’s elaborate set up –  some of their food has gone bad, some things are starting to break down, but returning to the surface is not an option.  One day Eli discovers his father has been communicating with someone up above on his computer, and been hiding this from them all. Eli is determined to learn more and begins to suspect the unthinkable, that all is not as they think outside the compound. There is life up on the surface.  Before the story ends he will learn that his father made the whole thing up and has confined them, his own family, for 6 long years so far, as his own little scientific experiment. He even planned for things to deteriorate so he could see how they would handle it.  The Compound, a chilling story of control.   (New Hampshire Isinglass nominee, 2010)

Booktalk #2

Eli's father is a billionaire. He built the secret underground compound to protect his family in the vent of nuclear war. It has everything: movies, video games, clothing, food, heat, light and air.

When the unthinkable happened, Eli and his family barely made it to shelter in time. Eli's twin brother and his grandma perished in the nuclear holocaust outside. There's nothing left. But Eli and his family have enough supplies to last for 15 years, long enough for the deadly radiation to subside.  Which would be bad enough, but after six years underground, they discover that the food supplies are tainted. They don't have enough food and water to survive. Their father comes up with a plan to save them. He calls it "the supplements." It's beyond horrible. Is his father insane?

Eli thinks it might be better to take their chances with the irradiated world outside. That's when he discovers that there's only one door out of the compound. It's locked. His father has the only key--and he's hidden it. What other secrets is this man hiding from his family?

Eli is determined to beat his father and find a way out. But can he do it in time?

Read the Compound by S.A. Bodeen: It's never what you expect...
(booktalk by Kirsten Edwards, King County Library System for The Washington Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, 2011)