Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Fallout
    Unavailable
    Fallout
    Unavailable
    Fallout
    Audiobook4 hours

    Fallout

    Written by Todd Strasser

    Narrated by Jeff Cummings

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    It's the summer of 1962, and Scott and his friends spend their days playing baseball and thinking about girls. But the threat of nuclear war looms over everything they do, and they are haunted by the idea that they could all be dead tomorrow.

    Even though the possibility of war is all anyone talks about, Scott's dad is the only one in the neighborhood who actually prepares for the worst, building a bomb shelter to protect his family and stocking it with enough supplies to keep them alive for two critical weeks. The neighbors scoff, but then, in the middle of the night in late October, the unthinkable happens. Suddenly ten people are crammed into a shelter built for four. Ten people eating the food meant for four, breathing the air meant for four. Ten people struggling to survive-but what will await them when they eventually emerge?

    Internationally bestselling author Todd Strasser has written his most impressive and personal novel to date, painstakingly yet sensitively exploring the terrifying what-ifs of one of the most explosive moments in history.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateSep 10, 2013
    ISBN9781480518971
    Unavailable
    Fallout
    Author

    Todd Strasser

    Todd Strasser, author of Give a Boy a Gun, Boot Camp, If I Grow Up, and the Help, I’m Trapped . . . series, has written wildly popular middle-grade and teen books of all genres. When he's not speaking at schools and conferences, he makes his home in a suburb of New York City. Todd is active in a number of sports but enjoys surfing most of all. Visit him online at www.toddstrasser.com.

    More audiobooks from Todd Strasser

    Related to Fallout

    Related audiobooks

    Children's Historical For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Magic Flute

      Apr 4, 2023

      The Magic Flute
      7 min read

    • Article

      Reader's Letter

      Oct 20, 2021

      SIR: The fifth person (marked anonymous) in the photograph accompanying the piece about Chips Channon in September’s Oldie is in fact my mother, Patricia Morrison-Bell. As a child, I would listen unnoticed to many hushed conversations about Chips, an

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Days After

      Sep 1, 2023

      The Days After
      6 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Aug 12, 2019

      In 2010, one of America’s most accomplished flyfishing writers, Nick Lyon collated an anthology titled The Best Fishing Stories Ever Told , and it includes The Lakes at Inhluzane , from Tom Sutcliffe’s Hunting Trout (2004). For many flyfishers, here

      2 min read

    • Article

      Scarlet Traces

      Aug 14, 2019

      Scarlet Traces
      2 min read

    • Article

      That’s Cold!

      Dec 9, 2021

      Here’s a chilly little puzzle just in time for the February issue! Each of the clues below can be answered by a name, phrase, or title containing the word COLD. For example, the clue “Something that offers little consolation” would be COLD COMFORT. C

      1 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Dec 15, 2022

      Letters
      6 min read

    • Article

      Reader Review

      Jun 1, 2021

      Take a country that is wrestling with concerns about sexual and racial inequality, its complicated relationship with the rest of Europe, formidable economic problems and rising pollution; then lock everyone in their homes for a lengthy period, simmer

      1 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Feb 16, 2023

      Letters
      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Feb 16, 2023

      Letters
      6 min read

    • Article

      Diane Armstrong

      Apr 8, 2024

      Diane Armstrong
      3 min read

    • Article

      Paperback In The USSR

      Sep 1, 2019

      THE SECRETS WE KEPT By Lara Prescott KNOPF $36.95; 369 PAGES When I taught American literature at a Soviet university in 1980, I managed to bring along some books that were banned by the Kremlin: Catch-22, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Slaughterho

      3 min read

    • Article

      Holiday Reading

      Dec 30, 2022

      The Soul of a Lion by Willie Labuschagne (Tracey McDonald Publishers, R330) “Don't try this at home!” is Labuschagne's jocular warning about his memoir. Director of the Johannesburg Zoo and then the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria for much of

      3 min read

    • Article

      Maiden’s Art Attack

      Jan 4, 2024

      Maiden’s Art Attack
      4 min read

    • Article

      Iron Wills

      May 3, 2019

      Iron Wills
      2 min read

    • Article

      TV, FILM & RADIO

      Aug 3, 2023

      TV, FILM & RADIO
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Art Of War

      Sep 14, 2021

      The Art Of War
      14 min read

    • Article

      War! From Megawatt Park to Manchester

      Jun 2, 2023

      Cheekily labelled 'This year's most electrifying read' by the publisher, De Ruyter's account of his three years at Eskom instantly became what will probably be South Africa's most electronically pirated book this year. It's ironic, given that De Ruyt

      2 min read

    • Article

      Taking The Future As Read

      Jan 27, 2022

      Taking The Future As Read
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Sword Of Swords

      Nov 23, 2022

      (Birlinn, £22) THE perfect sword—the highest expression of the blacksmith’s art—is arguably a pattern-welded, 7th-century blade of iron and steel, buried three centuries later at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland. After 1,000 years, the rusted blade

      5 min read

    • Article

      Mission Critical

      Jun 25, 2019

      Mission Critical
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un’s Notes

      Jan 10, 2024

      Stanley Price (19312019), the playwright and screenwriter, had many lucky encounters. His witty stories, which all appeared in The Oldie, have been collected by his son Munro Price into a delightful book My Lunch with Marilyn and Other Stories. As a

      5 min read

    Reviews for Fallout

    3.5/5

    76 ratings19 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Loved this book! A gripping, alternate-reality look at what might have happened if the Russians had dropped a nuclear bomb on the U.S. during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fascinating and a true survival story. Loved the alternate chapters (in the shelter/the months leading up to the bomb) and the tense situation inside the shelter. Well written, read in one sitting! Will recommend to many others.
    • 5/5
      I quite enjoyed this young adult fiction book. It was fascinating to read from the young narrator's point of view. Hearing the concerns and questions about impending war from a child's perspective is eye opening. This situation in the early 60's when the threat of nuclear war was very real and people were living in a world of uncertainty was interesting to read. The situations that arose when the food was running out and the tempers were rising created a terrific dynamic between the characters. I loved how the author explains at the end that the premise for the book was based on his father's preparation of a bomb shelter while he was a child. Quick read and most enjoyable.
    • 5/5
      What if the Cuban Missile Crisis had not been peacefully resolved? What if the Soviets had detonated nuclear bombs over Long Island? And what if your family was the only one with a bomb shelter? This is the premise of Todd Strasser's book.But this is not a philosophical treatise. We aren't asked actually asked "what would you do if...". Rather, we are presented with the situation as it is, and through Strasser's very vivid writing, asked to put ourselves in the shelter and experience it through Scott's eyes.Neither is this a political treatise. Strasser keeps the focus so tight on Scott, his first-person narrator, that we can't even quite tell what's going on politically or militarily. We only know tensions are rising on the world stage. It's a very realistic portrayal of how the world looked to a 12 year old in 1962, but the technique has it's pitfalls as well, the biggest one being that I am not 12 years old and would have liked a bit more insight into what was going on in the wider world.Although this lack of information bothered me while I was reading the book, looking back, it seems almost a nitpicky complaint about a book that is so strong and readable.
    • 5/5
      In the summer of 1962, the possibility of nuclear war is all anyone talks about. But Scott’s dad is the only one in the neighborhood to actually prepare for the worst.Todd Strasser’s amazing book, Fallout, does not disappoint! Through 6th-grader, Scott, we experience the horror of 10 people trying to survive underground in an bomb shelter that’s only supplied for 4. Alternating chapters show us what led up to the Cold War nightmare. It’s the first middle-grade novel I’ve read in a while that had me biting my nails to the quick. Scary and fantastic!
    • 4/5
      A terrifying Cold War alternative history. Reminds me of some chilling Twilight Zone episodes.
    • 3/5
      I really wanted to like this book, as per a prior reviewer, and also as per a prior reviewer, I felt too much time was spent in the "pre" narrative focusing on the "what if" scenarios. The book would be infinitely more interesting discussing what actually happened during and after the fallout. I found parts of it confusing, but that may be because of the young narrator. It may turn off young readers due to the exercise in frustration.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars.

      I thought this was interesting. The author's note at the end realy brought it to home for me about how this was a real trial for many people. Living in the west, I don't run across this type of stuff as much as I might if I lived more in the midwest or east, but there are a lot of conspiracy groups around here, so I can get the general idea of how people may have been thinking. I'm one who believes in being prepared, but I don't know how things like this might play out if there was a real emergency situation and I would have to rely on myself or those around me to survive. This was a terrible situation, and I can see how easily it could escalate to this level (Hurricane Katrina). I would hope all who read it can take something away from it, either from a historical point, or as an emergency preparedness example.
    • 4/5
      This was a great book for teen boys. I don't usually like reading books that go back and forth in time periods, like then and now, but this book was easy to keep up with.
    • 2/5
      I really, really, really wanted to like this book. I love the concept: it is the 1960s and presents an alternate history whereupon the US and Soviet Union go to nuclear war as opposed to the near miss that happened in actuality. The chapters alternate back and forth from the time before the bomb dropped to life in the family's bomb shelter, but the way Strasser writes, this just seems disjointed and clunky as a narrative arc. As a pretty seasoned reader, I was able to negotiate these narrative shifts with some ease, but I would think younger readers might flounder a bit. There is no signal or directional for the reader: Strasser alternates and we, the readers, need to remember that.

      The book imagines the worse case situation, which is really the strongest part of his story: one family, in a typically suburban neighborhood, builds a bomb shelter while the neighbors regards it with suspicion and scorn. But, when the bomb drops, where do you think they run to? How does the main family negotiate the unexpected guests? Who gets granted access and who doesn't? Two weeks is a long time to wait in an underground box, with dwindling food and water, and tempers flaring.

      Strasser attempts to make this a coming-of-age novel too, but it just feels too forced. The main character, Scott, has a friend who is always one step ahead, whether with pranks, alcohol, lying, and breasts. Too much time is spent explaining how if life was to end tomorrow, then it would only feel right for an eleven-year-old boy to get a look at his own mother's breasts, for lack of other options. Time is also spent talking about Playboy magazines and how "every Father keeps one hidden", even alluding to a cover with a naked woman only wearing a necktie. The scenes with Shaws, the underage drinking, and Mr.Shaw reading his Playboy magazine in the middle of the living room, as if it was only a Life magazine, seem slightly lewd to me, and at the very least, gratuitous. Add to this a peepshow the author describes in the shelter, whether inadvertently (his unconscious mother's bare backside revealed or Mrs.Shaw letting her robe hang open and then strip completely naked to bathe in the middle of the bunker, without shame or regard or self-awareness of her own adolescent son just feet away). What he does is take a completely riveting idea, written at a middle-grade audience, and ruins it with out-of-place titillation that neither add to the story or reveals depth to any of the characters. Sounds to me like the author has some unresolved Freudian issues left over from childhood that he needs to work out with a shrink.

      An author's note at the end reveals that his family had built a bomb shelter in 1962 and a picture shows him with his younger brother. His re-imaged memoir, as I take it, is a readable book and one that I was compelled to finish, just to see if the people in the shelter were going to make it. But, he finishes it so quickly and without a satisfying resolution, it is as if his imagination simply ran out. As if he could only imagine a world inside that shelter, but could provide nothing for his readers beyond that simple proposition.
    • 3/5
      Fallout by Todd Strasser is a admonition again war and a plea for peace instead of war.Scott has a questionable best friend. In fact, I can't stand his best friend; I think he's an unpleasant kid. Perhaps these are typical teenage boys, which I cannot relate to as I am not male nor a tomboy. The story is set in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The level of fear is relatively high as they practice duck and cover at school and stay glued to the TV watching the latest news on Kennedy and Krushchev as they threaten to release nuclear bombs on their respective countries. The novel begins with Scott's father waking him up and telling them to hurry to the bomb shelter because the sirens are going off. Afterwards, each chapter alternates between the days leading up to the nuclear bomb being dropped and life in the shelter. Life in the shelter begins with neighbors pushing their way in. Some don't make it in. Now there are ten people in a shelter planned for four. Scott's father failed to adequately supply the shelter with food, so they must ration until the radiation levels drop off enough to get out. In the other chapters, you meet Scott friends and some of their parents. His best friend, Ronnie, is really not a nice kid at all and his father is very questionable, as he offers Scott liquor and reads an inappropriate magazine within Scott's vision, which makes Scott very uncomfortable. The reader can see that Ronnie doesn't have an adequate male role model.The theme of the novel is that human nature is tested through extreme events and life and some survive with dignity while others consider cruelty and sacrifice the only options. The author imagines what lie would have been like if the nuclear bombs had actually dropped in order to make a case that peace is always the better solution to war. It's a realistic novel about what would really happy to people in such an extreme case. I do wish the ending dealt more with what the outside world was like upon coming out of the shelter and how they would survive now because this is a different form of survival. Also, if you want a novel that better places you in the time period, Countdown by Deborah Wiles is a more realistic portrayal of what it was like to live during this crisis. Fallout deals with this part of it in the alternate chapters but then deviates to the "what if" to make the point about war. The "Author's Note" is a must read at the end.
    • 4/5
      Fallout offers an alternate set of events involving the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the book the US is attacked by the Russians and the Porter family, their housekeeper and a few of their.neighbors take cover in the Porter's bomb shelter. The author details the events leading up to WW III and also tells what is happening in the present. The chapters alternate between past and present which adds depth to.the story and adds to the suspense. I enjoyed reading this book. Although, the story involved some rather dismal events it also depicted the best of human nature under extraordinary circumstances. The Porter Family and their housekeeper, Janet were my favorite characters. I thought the Porters were good parents and had raised them to be kind and accepting of others. Great read. 4 stars!(less)
    • 3/5
      The Cuban Missile Crisis is a piece of history that many of our youth don't get taught about in school. Although it was peacefully resolved with the Russians, the threat of being bombed by a nuclear weapon is a constant threat to the US even today. What would people do? Would there be families who would build shelters in order to survive? Todd Strausser takes these ideas and weaves a tale fitting for the teen male. Although it is not my favorite Strausser story, it is one that is worth reading.
    • 4/5
      "Fallout" by Todd Strasser is the fictional alternative history of a boy, his family, and his neighborhood under threat of and then under the effects of nuclear war. Scott has the usual troubles of a boy who has just completed fifth grade and is going into sixth grade such as friends who get him in trouble, a younger brother, and quarreling parents. He is also growing up during the Cold War and fears a likely nuclear war. When the bomb drops Scott and his family run for their life saving bomb shelter. The shelter can only hold a few people. Food is limited in the shelter. Kind words can be hard to find. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
    • 4/5
      This story is told from the viewpoint of 12-year old Scott. He is not quite mature enough to understand the fear that pervades 1962 America with the proximity of nuclear weapons. His father builds a fallout shelter and half-heartedly stocks it with food and supplies. Unfortunately, the sirens start wailing and his family moves in with just the pajamas on their backs. Neighbors who had scoffed at his efforts try to go in with him. His dad isn't able to keep all of them out so the supplies chosen to support 4 people have to now support 10. Chapters taking place in the shelter alternate with chapters of life leading up to the event as Scott and his friends go to school and learn about things like stereotyping and segregation and quarantine and radiation. Duck and cover drills are held and adults are glued to radios and television.The tension was excellent and reminded me of a Twilight Zone type program where people have to share a small space not knowing what is happening outside. Written for a middle school audience, I hope they have enough background information to understand the story.
    • 3/5
      What if the Bay of Pigs had ended differently, and the Soviet Union bombed the United States? What if you family was the only one on the block with a bomb shelter?
    • 5/5
      Fallout by Todd Strasser was released in September this year and is one of the many dystopian books to hit the shelves for young readers. So what makes this one different? Well, most of the books in this popular genre are futuristic dystopias, a doom befallen on the population years from modern day. Fallout is not the norm; it is set in the summer of 1962 when the danger of nuclear war is on everyone’s minds. The Russians are threatening to bomb the states and an all out bombing war would ensue. The book follows Scott and his family as they plan for and try to survive a nuclear attack. Their family of four is the only family on the block preparing for the danger and go as far as building a bomb shelter for themselves. This would be a wonderful plan had it not been for the neighbors all knowing about the shelter. When the time comes and there is an attack, all the neighbors rush the house to try to get into the shelter. Now there are too many people underground, not enough supplies, and tensions run high as the group tries to wait for two weeks for the radiation levels to decrease enough outside for survival. So that is the plot, intriguing right? Well not only is it an interesting premise it is also a very good book. First off it was very easy to read in the sense of construction. The chapters were short and interesting and drew the reader back and forth between past and present in Scott’s life before and after the attack. However it was also very difficult to read, this story of survival in a world that is not that different from what could have occurred and may still happen is eerily thought-provoking. Written for a younger audience it hits on a lot of emotions that they can relate to: of love for family, that questioning of life to come, embarrassment and shame, and lots of fear and anger; but as an adult reading it, it does almost the same, which is a very hard thing for a book to do. It related to a broad audience on many levels. I flew though this book within about a day.Apparently most of this story is in fact based on the author’s home life. His family did in fact build a bomb shelter for the summer of 1962 and the shelter still remains at the home with the new owners. The author details an encounter with the new owner and taking a step back in time when he goes to see it again. It was just another interesting tidbit to an amazingly realistic story.
    • 4/5
      Imagine if the Soviet Union had sent bombs to destroy the US during the Cuban Missile Crises. That’s the premise of Strasser’s new book. It’s based upon his recollections of the communist scare of the early sixties. His memories of the Soviet threat are vivid and frightening. In Fallout, Scott is eleven and frightened that the bombs will destroy everything. His father has taken the nuclear threats so seriously that he’s built a fallout shelter to protect his family. While others scoff and mock the effort, they act differently once the danger becomes a reality and the warning sirens start to go off. Strasser has attempted to imagine the unimaginable – the worst case scenario. What if the bombs did fall and millions were in danger of radiation poisoning? The author’s own father built just such a shelter for his family, but thankfully, it was never used. In the book, the trials of living in close confinement with only little food and little to do, take a toll on those in the shelter. A second story line follows Scott and his best friend Ronnie as they get in trouble on the days leading up to the nuclear attack. Ronnie is a troublemaker who never gets punished but who talks Scott into doing things Scott would never think to do. There’s an innocence to Scott who is shocked by Ronnie’s suggestions and yet often follows his friend in doing bad things. The strength of the book lies in the recreation of the time when schools practiced drills having students get on the floor with their head down and curled into a small ball, when the news was filled with bomb scares, when people were so frightened that some built fallout shelters like Strasser’s father. The stresses of close quarters, poor bathroom facilities, with little sustenance and nothing to do, make for extreme tension and the adults act worse than the children. The book is a glimpse into the what-if’s and presents a frightening scenario that those who lived during that period can recall fearing, and those younger will find scary and horrifying.
    • 4/5
      "Fallout" by Todd Strasser is the fictional alternative history of a boy, his family, and his neighborhood under threat of and then under the effects of nuclear war. Scott has the usual troubles of a boy who has just completed fifth grade and is going into sixth grade such as friends who get him in trouble, a younger brother, and quarreling parents. He is also growing up during the Cold War and fears a likely nuclear war. When the bomb drops Scott and his family run for their life saving bomb shelter. The shelter can only hold a few people. Food is limited in the shelter. Kind words can be hard to find. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
    • 4/5
      In October, 1962 I was three years old and blissfully unaware of the might have been that is the premise of this novel. But several years later, the whole neighborhood knew that a neighbor had a bomb shelter, in the way that kids know things. This novel imagines that Kennedy wouldn’t back down from mutually assured destruction, when we know he did. Scott’s dad has had a bomb shelter built under Scott’s bedroom. He’s stocked it for his family of four, but six more neighbors (not necessarily friends) crowd in with them. It’s claustrophobic and tense like “On the Beach,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “Ten Angry Men,” which I suppose, was intentional.I quite liked this book.