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The Last Book in the Universe

by Rodman Philbrick

A search for healing in a world cut off from books

Regular price $11.94 USD
Regular price $19.90 USD Sale price $11.94 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

A search for healing in a world cut off from books

In a devastated future where people turn to mindprobes for entertainment, Spaz’s seizures keep him from using the technology that dominates daily life. His meeting with Ryter, an older man with memories of the world before the Big Shake, opens a window onto a past Spaz has never known. Their journey toward the rumored Eden is tied to a personal hope: finding help for Spaz’s dying sister. The novel brings together a post-catastrophe landscape, the loss of reading, and a question about what knowledge and human connection can preserve when familiar ways of life have disappeared.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Young readers interested in dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction.
  • Readers drawn to stories about quests, family, and the search for healing.
  • Readers curious about books that explore technology’s place in everyday life.

Themes

Reading and storytellingTechnology and human connectionLife after catastropheFamily and healing

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

This fast-paced action novel is set in a future where the world has been almost destroyed. Newbery Honor Author Rodman Philbrick is at his very best.

 

The Last Book in the Universe joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!

 

Nobody around here reads anymore. Why bother, when you can just shoot all the images and excitement straight into your brain? I've heard of books, but they were long before I was born, in the backtimes before the Big Shake...

 

In a world where people only use mindprobes for entertainment, a teenaged boy is one of the rare human beings who can see life for what is really is. Cruelly nicknamed "Spaz", he is subject to random seizures that make it impossible for him to use the brain-drain tech. But what sets him apart eventually becomes his salvation.

 

After meeting an old man called Ryter, Spaz begins to learn about how the world used to be before the catastrophic earthquake that changed everything. There is a story of a promised land, rich in its bounties, that can cure any ailment and more beautiful than any place left in the desolate wasteland humanity calls home. The two set off to find Eden in the hopes of saving Spaz's dying sister, and together, seek to bring some good back to the world.

 

Fahrenheit 451 meets The Giver in this action-packed thriller from the author of the bestselling novel Freak the Mighty.

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Customer reviews

M
AlbakiReads
Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

T
AlbakiReads
Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

O
AlbakiReads
Olivia

Smooth.