Laybourne, Emmy.
MONUMENT 14
New York : Feiwel and Friends, 2012
IL YA
ISBN 0312569033

Booktalk #1

Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother.  Of course not--you launch yourself down the  stairs and make a run for the corner.Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even  missed the bus. But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran. Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong. (Booktalk by New Hampshire Flume committee)

Booktalk #2

It starts out like any other day in the small town of Monument, Colorado.  The bus picks up Alex and takes off for middle school just like yesterday and the day before.  Then another bus picks up Dean and sets off for the high school.  Just like before.  But then it happens.  The sky opens up and hail rains down.  Not just any hail.  This is punching through the roof of the bus and people are getting hurt.  Cars are spinning out of control.  The bus driver heads into the parking lot of the local superstore.  The bus driver goes right through the front door.  Several of the kids don't make it.  But there are now 14 kids sheltered in the big-box storm trying to figure out what is going on.  The driver makes sure the kids are safe and then sets off to find help.  This is just the beginning.  The kids learn that there has been volcanoes and a megatsunami and it is not safe to go out.  Then it gets worse.  The nearby NORAD facility has leaked a deadly chemical.  So 14 children huddle down in the store waiting for help to arrive.  But that help may not be coming.