One of the Survivors

Fourteen-year-old Joey Campbell knows that he is lucky to be one of the survivors of the school fire. But really, how much luck is involved when he is the lone student to stand up during a fire drill? The only one who insists on getting out of the classroom? Joey’s best friend, Maureen, thankfully decides to follow, but the remaining twenty-four people in Room E201 are swallowed in the mysterious blaze that engulfs their school.

Other than Joey's classroom, the rest of the students heed the fire alarm and survive, but grief-stricken parents and classmates have no one to lash out against except Joey and Maureen. Behind a fence that his dad builds for their own safety, Joey deals with rage, sorrow, and helplessness in equal measure. Some solace can be found within the pages of his journal, but ultimately he must face the living in order to accept everyone and everything that is dead and gone.

A 14-year-old deals with the aftermath of a school fire that kills his classmates and any sense of a normal life in Susan Shaw's One of the Survivors.

Children's Literature

Susan Shaw writes novels of sophisticated subtleties and her new one is no exception. Two freshmen high school students survive a school fire that takes the lives of twenty-five classmates and one of their teachers. Fire alarms had been ringing all day, followed by announcements that the alarm is not a fire but an error in the system. Protagonist Joey has some personal history with fire alarms and deadly fires so when he gets up and walks out, his neighborhood friend Maureen simply walks out with him. But is their story of survival that simple? Local families and students are struggling with the death of so many young people and they believe that something else must have happened that day. Some of them react violently against Joey and Maureen. The true story comes out in small bits and pieces through Joey's journaling and is finally brought together at the public memorial service for those who died. This is a story of survival in all of its incarnations—physical, psychological, and emotional. Survivor's guilt and a desire to find fault come crashing together until one high school student reaches out to the two ostracized freshmen, representing the first hope that even in the face of unbearable tragedy, moving forward may be possible. Middle school readers will be intrigued by the story's suspense but may need help sorting through the implications of the story's events. Reviewer: Janis Flint-Ferguson

Susan Shaw is the author of One of the Survivors, Safe, an ALA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and a Carolyn W. Field Honor Book, and The Boy From the Basement, a New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age. She lives in Wayne, PA, and you can visit her online at susanshaw.org.