A Plague Year

by Edward Bloor

It's 2001 and zombies have taken over Tom's town. Meth zombies. The drug rips through Blackwater, PA, with a ferocity and a velocity that overwhelms everyone.

It starts small, with petty thefts of cleaning supplies and Sudafed from the supermarket where Tom works. But by year's end there will be ruined, hollow people on every street corner. Meth will unmake the lives of friends and teachers and parents. It will fill the prisons, and the morgues.

Tom's always been focused on getting out of his depressing coal mining town, on planning his escape to a college somewhere sunny and far away. But as bits of his childhood erode around him, he finds it's not so easy to let go. With the selfless heroism of the passengers on United Flight 93 that crashed nearby fresh in his mind and in his heart, Tom begins to see some reasons to stay, to see that even lost causes can be worth fighting for. 

Edward Bloor has created a searing portrait of a place and a family and a boy who survive a harrowing plague year, and become stronger than before.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Zombies, Historical, Addiction

305 pages, Hardcover

Published September 13, 2011

About the author

Edward (William) Bloor

Personal Information: Born October 12, 1950, in Trenton, NJ; son of Edward William and Mary (Cowley) Bloor; married Pamela Dixon (a teacher), August 4, 1984. Father to a daughter and a son. Education: Fordham University, B.A., 1973.

Career: Novelist and editor. English teacher in Florida public high schools, 1983-86; Harcourt Brace School Publishers, Orlando, FL, senior editor, beginning 1986.

* Tangerine, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1997.
* Crusader, Harcourt Brace (San Diego, CA), 1999.
* Story Time, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2004.
* London Calling, Knopf (New York, NY), 2006.
* Taken, Knopf (New York, NY,) 2007.

Media Adaptations:
Tangerine audiobook, Recorded Books, 2001.
Story Time audiobook, Recorded Books, 2005.
London Calling audiobook, Recorded Books, 2006.

Reviews

[Jay G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Want to see more bookish things from me? Check out my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfer...

2.5 Stars

During the year of 2011, after the 9/11 attacks, a plague surrounding the drug Methamphetamine begins taking over the small town of Blackwater, Pennsylvania. 15 year old Tom and his community are stuck in the middle of it. Tom and his friends join a drug counselling group and discuss this new problem on a weekly basis.

At times, I think this book came across very preachy and annoying. Some characters seemed to only be put in to show that meth is bad and nobody should take this drug - which I agree with. But no solutions to the problem were ever put forth and I found myself bored for most of the story. I did like the overall message of the book, but I think it could have been executed in a better way.

[Beverly · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Plague Year had so much potential to be a powerful realistic story of a poor mining town destroyed by meth. I was hoping for a rural YA version of the must read classic David Simon book The Corner. (The book that became the basis of the HBO series The Wire.) Instead it is another disappointment from one of my favorite YA authors. The destruction of families is mentioned only superficially in a couple of conversations. The neglect and abuse of children by their addict parents is absent completely. Most of the book focuses on 15 year old Tom, a hard working ambitious town native anxious to escape via college. Tom is an unreliable narrator. Since he spends most of his time either working or studying, he is oblivious to the troubles of his friends and classmates. There are many references to townspeople turning into zombies, but since Tom has no relationship with any of these people, they are not a focal point of the events. The school support group for students dealing with addiction problems could have been an intense setting for the characters to come together, reveal their fears and pain, and connect. Instead, the group meetings come off as preachy. It was also very odd that the town police department ignores the meth problem, but goes out of its way to nail pot smokers and small time pot dealers. It was also odd even after Tom becomes suspicious that some of his father's employees are addicts, he never says anything to his father. The ending of the story was stilted and contrived. It almost read as if Bloor did not know how to wrap up the events, so he just ended them. The Plague Year is a great idea for a story that deserves much better.

[Alex Templeton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just don't really get Edward Bloor. His books are so hit-or-miss with me. I loved loved "Tangerine" and Crusader", found "Story Time" amusing but not as good, was kinda disappointed by "London Calling", and thought "Taken" was pretty cool, and altogether was really puzzled by this book. It purported to be about a year in which meth took over a community, but that remained in the background as the protagonist dealt with 9/11 fallout, crushed on a egotistical and elitist girl, and attended a variety of drug prevention meetings despite having no drug problem himself. The "plague year" theme was hovering in the background the whole time, but the fact that it wasn't in the forefront was quite confusing to me. Also despite being a liberal English teacher, I was disappointed that so many of the moral issues in the book were being worked out in the classroom of a Liberal English Teacher. I just feel like that's such a cliche at this point. I also thought the people from the university near the protagonist's coal mining community were treated as such insensitive jerks. (I had a similar issue with Veronica Roth's "Divergent", although it wasn't so bad as this book.) I know some intellectuals are elitist a-holes and that teenagers in many poor communities that border universities experience their a-holery, but I am wary of stereotyping smart people as something "other" and discouraging kids from a life of the mind more than they already are discouraged. I realize that's much more of a personal gripe, though, and probably has nothing to do with anything but me.

[Kelly Bryson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom's in the middle of a plague and he doesn't see the signs. Crazy, stupid thefts are occuring, Sudafed and ammonia are disappearing off the shelves. Nobody in Tom's hopeless PA coal town really cares except a group of kids in a drug counseling group.

I appreciated the parallels between the bubonic plague and meth use, and have put "Diary of a Plague Year" on my tbr list.

However...I found this book rather preachy and felt the characters existed mainly to highlight that meth is bad, very bad and you shouldn't try it, not even once. Which is a good message. Don't get me wrong.

I signed up for the book because I've seen meth user pictures and it's absolutely terrifying, but the book didn't quite tug my heartstrings.

Thanks to Around the World ARC tours for giving me the opportunity to read it!

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

"A dead human being is worthless, no matter who you were just half an hour before. You can't ever do anything for anybody, ever again."

―Mr. Coleman, A Plague Year, PP. 168-169

Here is a story that contains most of the standard elements of Edward Bloor's great works of fiction: a small town as the setting, a modest family business in which the main teenaged character puts in significant hours for little or no practical pay, the rise of an insidious social problem that slowly takes over everything before anyone is really even aware what's happening...It's a scene that Edward Bloor excels at writing about, making it feel to the reader as if every little action in the story, no matter how innocuous or nondescript, could possibly hook into an enormous conspiracy the scope of which we had never even considered. And it all starts in a small town much like thousands of others across the United States, with a relatively ordinary family living their routine lives with no clue that it's all about to go up in flames, or nearly so. That's the storytelling style for which Edward Bloor, at his best, is known, and everything seems to be in place for A Plague Year to follow the substantial legacy of his first two literary triumphs, Tangerine and Crusader. It does follow this legacy in some ways, but with significant divergence, as well, though still containing the snap that Edward Bloor's writing has always had. By the conclusion of the narrative, readers are left with a strong sense of personal responsibility as to what they should do if a plague year, be it meth or any other invading agent, were to visit their hometown.

The Food Giant grocery store owned by eighth grader Tom Coleman's dad has never made their family rich, but it's a decent living, one Tom now regularly contributes to since he's become old enough to work a few hours each day before and after school. Aside from a minor drug-related snafu involving Tom's sister, Lilly, the last thing any of them expects is for drug addiction to develop into a major concern for the family, but when their hometown of Blackwater, Pennsylvania falls victim to a rising epidemic of methamphetamine users, the issue is suddenly thrust into the foreground for every person in the community. Death stalks Blackwater, in every strung-out meth junkie desperate to the point of committing murder for their next hit, wasted beyond all reason or the ability to use their own moral compasses to decide what is and isn't out-of-bounds behavior. In the space of a few months, "meth zombies" walk the streets of Blackwater in droves, ranging from dangerous lunatics driven by the mad need to score their next batch of meth, to those too far gone to express a desire for anything, condemned to writhe in their own silent agony until the day when the death that has so patiently courted them snatches their withered souls away into the afterlife. The situation is becoming intolerable for most of the town, but for Tom Coleman and his family it's even worse, having to work extra hard to defend the Food Giant from the hordes of shoplifters descending on their place of business. Meth is so easy to make, requiring only some basic cleaning supplies and medication as the raw materials to start a batch cooking, that meth junkies have begun frequenting the Food Giant in hopes of ripping off some free supplies, only to find that their burned-out brains are no longer capable of the stealth needed to pull off a successful heist.

As Tom wearily does his part to stave off shoplifters and potential shoplifters at the store, he gradually forms a connection with the members of a youth drug counseling group that meets locally. Tom is there because his sister, Lilly, is required to attend for her own drug lapse, and their cousin Arthur is an offending member, as well. Tom soon sees that as hard as "breaking bad" might be for these other teens, the climb is so much steeper, nearly impossible, for the meth addicts infesting Blackwater in ever-increasing numbers. This plague that has darkened the doorstep of every home in town is a scourge that could bring Blackwater to its knees if no one is willing to fight back, could be the death of hundreds or even thousands more if no halt is brought to its morbid tidal wave of destruction. But who is Tom to go into battle against a plague of meth with the help of only a few uncertain recovering druggies, especially when he has his own issues pertaining to adolescence that he's been struggling with more and more as of late? Tom wants some freedom in his life; almost everything he does is centered around school or the Food Giant, school or the Food Giant, with no real chance to do the things he would like to do if only he had the time to meet someone with whom to do them. Why can't Tom be allowed the opportunity to have a girlfriend, or go on a road trip with Arthur? Why can't he have something more to look forward to in his life than the drudgery of the everyday?

I'm not sure A Plague Year has direct answers for all these questions. Tom's life proceeds fairly realistically, with no immediate solutions to the story's serious problems that would tag it as obvious fiction, and so his family continues to need his "free" labor in order to keep the doors of the Food Giant open, and the meth issue isn't about to go away quickly. There's plenty of body to the story: challenging bits of dialogue, intense flare-ups between characters, and an occasional deeper moment that stirs the pot and gives us reason to care what happens. In the drug counseling group, when a particularly violent and unpleasant student from Tom's grade shows up only to berate the counselor, Catherine Lyle, before storming off angrily, the other teens in the program ask her how she deals with someone so rude and nasty. Like a true counselor, she answers with the following bit of good advice: "In a situation like that, you should always ask yourself, Who owns this problem? In this case, that young man clearly owns the problem, not me. He is going to have to figure out how to solve it. The problem was not mine when he walked in, and it is not mine now that he has walked out, no matter what crude thing he has said or done to try to make it mine. He still owns it." This is a statement we could all strive to remember in our dealings with anyone, drug problem or none. It can be so easy to take the mocking or caustically ridiculing words of another person as if they reveal something about ourselves we don't know; the reality is, though, that we certainly know ourselves better than they. To fight against that tendency to absorb their negative words as if they were verbally handing us a problem we didn't have before they began speaking is important to maintaining a healthy mental balance, especially when one is fighting against other issues, such as drug resistance.

When members of the drug counseling group are asked to come up with slogans for battling the recent rise in drug abuse, two excellent choices are constructed, both delivering an indispensable message in their own way. The first slogan, "NEO" or "Not Even Once", is meant to stress the idea that refusing to ever even try drugs is an essential defense concept that cannot possibly be overemphasized. It's not just the echoing of the words of teachers or police officers who have a vested interest in preaching the straight and narrow path; it's facing the reality that certain drugs, especially inhalants, can kill a person the first time they ever use it, taking a perfectly healthy specimen of any age and turning him or her into a corpse. After one use. Even if death isn't the result of a first experimentation with recreational drugs, "NEO" is a pithy and direct reminder that an addiction can form in an instant, with that first puff or injection or inhalation, and at that point the stairs drops out until one has slid all the way to rock bottom. Drugs aren't anything to play around with, "Not Even Once", and producing shirts with "NEO" stamped across the chest are intended to drive home this fact. But then later in the book, after a few close encounters with drugs in the family, Tom's cousin Arthur introduces his own concept for a slogan to the group, one much more direct than even the plainspoken "NEO". "I Hate Drugs" is the declaration Arthur wants to be on the lips and shirts of every man, woman and child in Blackwater and beyond. He wants people, for once, not to take the tactful approach, not be gentle or diplomatic in dealing with a plague that has enshrouded his entire hometown in inescapable darkness. Arthur wants the members of their group to start seeing drugs as the enemy, an enemy to be dismembered and destroyed, no prisoners taken and no respite given no matter what. He wants this war to be a personal one, an enraged pushback against the demon that has stolen the lives of colleagues, friends, parents, children, has severed just about every type of connection anyone could possibly have in Blackwater. Arthur wants to amp up the aggression against drugs to the point of hate for a marauding, murdering enemy, one that would never be treated with anything less than contempt and the promise of utter eradication were it a human foe. So when he proposes this new slogan to the group, who have seen the death wrought by meth among their families and friends, it's little surprise that the others jump on the bandwagon, promising death to meth and all other illegal drugs in retaliation for the suffering it has brought into their midst. Ultimately, it is exactly this frenzied opposition to the meth plague that may keep the members of the counseling group from relapsing into their own old drug habits, and could, in time, also help free the town.

Though many of his typical plot elements have remained the same over the years, Edward Bloor's writing style has changed, in my opinion, and A Plague Year is a prime example of these changes. While I'd like to see him return to writing some lengthier material like Crusader (which clocks in at five hundred ninety-one pages in the paperback version I own), his shorter efforts are always solid, too, and I tend to learn a lot from them. I might give two and a half stars to A Plague Year, and readers who enjoyed Bloor's Story Time and Taken will likely find A Plague Year to also be their kind of book. I don't think I've yet found anything else written by Edward Bloor that equals Tangerine (though Crusader at the very least comes quite close), but I plan on continuing my search anew with each of his books that I have yet to read. If past performance is any indicator of future quality, the search will be a riveting one.

[Izzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

lol I don't think I can even finish it. I'm in the middle and the main problem hasn't even come up yet. I have so many problems with this book.
1. I don't know this, but I hear that there are some inaccuracies in it.
2. The writing is so. boring. There was like two pages describing the exact placement of everything in the Food Giant. I don't care.
It'll go for on for pages and pages just telling us the boring things that are happening and then suddenly become all introspective and it feels so forced.
3. I don't really care about any of the characters. There's not many things that are interesting about them. I don't feel empathy for them. I don't know a single thing about them.
4. It's so confusing omg. Like the party scene with the college kids. W-w-what?? So Wendy always seems to be against substance abuse and then she apparently has a drinking problem. That is so contradictory. But maybe she just has a problem that she doesn't want to admit. We'll let that slide. She kissed Tom, yadda yadda. And then she kisses this dude in a pirate costume and it's like really awkward. The dude makes fun of Tom for being a townie. And then a few minutes later Wendy's father, Dr. Lyle comes out dressed in a pirate costume and makes fun of Tom for being a townie. I ACTUALLY THOUGHT WENDY WAS MAKING OUT WITH HER DAD BECAUSE OF THE WAY THAT WAS WRITTEN OMG I WAS SO LOST IT WAS TERRIBLE LIKE OK EDWARD COULD YOU THINK OF ANOTHER COSTUME MAYBE?? COULD YOU THINK OF A DIFFERENT DISCUSSION TOPIC??? And then they see their teacher Mr. Proctor is just randomly at the college party and Wendy is literally drunk but the teacher is some how ok with it but he just leaves. W-WHAT??!!
5. The cover is so misleading. Yeah, I know don't judge a book by its cover. Whatever. I thought it was actually about zombies so it would've been pretty cool. Then I found out it was a metaphor for drugs. Ok cool. It could still be pretty awesome. Nope.
6. There is so much unnecessary dialogue.
7. There are so many characters that are just there. Just secondary characters that serve no purpose that we know nothing about. Just there to fill space.
I just don't know. I might finish it, I might not. I feel bad for not finishing a book, and maybe I should give it a chance but it's going to take everything in me lol. But I guess the message is pretty nice.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

In rural Pennsylvania, a financially depressed coal mining town is beginning to feel the devastation of a plague. Sudafed and cleaning supplies are beginning to disappear from supermarket shelves and home labs are being set up to make meth, a dangerously addictive drug.

In the darkness of early dawn, Tim sits in the family van in front of Food Giant waiting for his dad to take him to school. A truck drives up and the passengers attempt to rob the ATM in front of the store. Tom's quick thinking keeps his dad and a fellow employee from being shot by one of the robbers.

Later that day, Tom's English class is assigned A Journal of a Plague Year. His teacher compares the classic novel by Daniel Defoe to what is happening in their community.

Tom's sister Lily was recently caught with marijuana and agrees to after-school drug counseling given by a mental health professional. His mother insists Tom attend also. When he arrives he find that the room is full and not all of the kids have drug problems. His cousin is there because his step-dad is giving a court-ordered talk about addiction. Others are there to find help for their families.

Tom learns a lot about drugs in these sessions, but he learns more from watching the way his town changes as the plague progresses. More and more people become victims. There's increased shoplifting and robberies, drug zombies on every corner, and every day more deaths. When their counselor leaves, the group decides to continue to meet in a church downtown. Their first session is attended by many of the homeless drug zombies from the street.

There have been other good YA books about meth addiction, but A Plague Year takes a different approach to the problem by showing what happens to families and communities as well as those who become addicted. Edward Bloor has several award winning books including Tangerine and Story Time.

[Krista Ivcevic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn’t the best out of many I’ve read, though I liked the dialogue and the choice of characters, the plot wasn’t exactly great. The story was revolved around a fictional journal from the main character, Tom Coleman - he explains the events happening throughout the plague year; people in Blackwater, Pennsylvania call it the meth plague. The plague began when people started using a new drug called methamphetamine. They started to shoplift weird items- items that produced meth. The story shadows the life of Tom, a freshman who is studying for his upcoming PSAT, but the story takes a turn in the middle and starts explaining the abuse of drugs and the hollow meth-using bodies - what the people of Blackwater called zombies - that were walking the streets. When the author used dialogue inside of the story the feelings of the characters were better explained. I was able to tell whether a character was angry, sad, or happy. I enjoyed reading the amount of conversation made and the emotions expressed throughout the book. “Her voice rose as I finished up her order. ‘So the problem will only get worse! Am I right?’” (Bloor 222). This part of the conversation from Mrs. Smalls, who shows her amount of dedication to the problem in Blackwater. The residents of Blackwater, Pennsylvania were very devoted to their town and the meth plague that was killing people and creating “zombies”.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was initially wary of another “plague” book, but this book, chosen by my book club, was a welcome change. Set in a small, coal mining town in Pennsylvania just after 9/11, the residents are struggling with a failing mining economy and some PTSD from living very close to the site where Flight 93 went down. The protagonist, Tom, is an 8th grader who works long hours at his father’s grocery franchise, Food Giant. He and his friends are witnesses to the plague infecting their town, methamphetamines. Initially they notice more homeless people, more thefts at the store of such items as ammonia and Sudafed, and increased truancy and teacher absenteeism. A drug abuse support group at the high school soon expands to include the local Meth Zombies, who wander in for the free sandwiches and, eventually, the donated coats and blankets collected by the students. This story is, in turn, horrifying and heartwarming with hints of Breaking Bad (with less gory violence, but with a developmentally disabled young man who works at the Food Giant) and except for an extraneous plot element involving a school play about the Bubonic Plague, is well plotted with believable characters.

[Secerecy Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A plague year is about 15 year old Tom Coleman. Tom lives in a rural town in Pennsylvania called Blackwater. When Tom’s sister Lilly is forced by his parents to try a new after school drug counseling group Tom decides to go along with her. In this after school counseling group Tom will meet with Wendy and Catherine Lyle. They are new to the town of Blackwater. Catherine Lyle is the leader of the drug counseling group and Wendy is her stepdaughter. Soon after Tom realizes that Wendy is also in his English class taught by Mr. Proctor. Mr. Proctor is always bringing up a plague and the drug meth. Soon Tom will see his whole town turned upside down at the effects of meth. Living in a town that is also filled with these meth zombies I whole heartedly believe that this was a amazing book. I like the way that it takes characters who we believe are innocent and who would never be effected by meth become effected in some way or another. Tom’s whole town is taken away by this drug just like my town has been. It is a great perspective of drug usage.

[Jean-Marc Rocher · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not a bad book, and likely a very realistic depiction of a high school student’s journal during 9/11 and a local epidemic of meth-related crime, but it feels very superficial. There was potential for deeper reflections and tougher questions that were missed.

[Cristina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good lord. Did someone in 8th grade write this? So poorly written and he kept repeating himself I just couldn’t go on with the book and I usually can power through

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1666, bubonic plague decimated Europe, specifically England and the town of Eyam, who found that all of its inhabitants could die. The townsfolk knew that the plague could, and probably would kill them, but they could try to run. Even with this option, they stayed in the infected town, noting that if an infected escaped with them, they would be responsible for killing thousands more. The townspeople of Eyam sacrificed themselves, even though they could have lived, for the better of mankind.

Roses of Eyam, is a play by Don Taylor, read within A Plague Year. Even though this play is around 350 years old, towns today face a similar problem, meth. In Edward Bloor’s fictional novel (published 9/13/11), is about a 14 year-old boy, Tom Coleman, and his journal of the modern day plague in Blackwater, Pennsylvania.

The book starts off in 2011, with Tom in 9th grade at a local high school. Suddenly everything changes with the events of 9/11. The town’s inhabitants start using the stimulant meth. Due to recent events, Tom and his sister Lily are pushed into a drug-counseling group. They are educated more on the subject of drugs, and along with other group members, try to fight back. These meth “zombies” cause chaos: stealing from the Coleman’s Food Giant, getting arrested, kids skipping school, people dying, and even a hold-up and shooting. These “zombies” I am referring to are the meth-addicts; the drug causes the overall appearance and mental capabilities of a zombie, minus the need for brains. Tom meanwhile, pursues his first crush, and starts standing up for himself and his beliefs, with the help of his large cousin Arthur. After a series of depressing events, such as the weakness and cheating of his girlfriend, and the deaths of a family member and a friend, Tom and the reader start to wonder if he can survive this plague year.

This generally good book does have its set of disappointments too. The book starts off pretty slow, and until 9/11 the only reason I kept reading was because I had to. The main character, Tom also has a lot of problems, such as his relationships, and actions. Tom’s relationships take very abrupt turns, and some seem to even be forgotten. For example, Tom’s relationship with the Stokes is very odd, a family consisting of Aunt Robin, Uncle Jimmy, Warren, and Arthur. They seem to have just met, even though the Stokes live 10 minutes away, and have been said to have interacted before at holidays and other events.

Even with those problems, this book is great, especially for kids between the ages of 12-15. The book, while being remarkably similar to 9th grade, constantly keeps you on your toes with action, a lot of the time so interesting you need to reread to make sure you got it right. Some examples of this would be the effects of meth: deaths, stealing, shootings. The craftsmanship of the author, Edward Bloor, is also superb, and perfect for the intended audience. His use of various literary devices exemplifies his craftsmanship, such as hidden foreshadowing with the English class, and the symbolism all over the book, with multiple layers. Bloor also beautifully intertwines the plots of Don Taylor’s Roses of Eyam, a book read within A Plague Year, with the main plot of Tom’s Blackwater experience, and other various subplots, such as Tom’s love life, and other books. Overall the book is amazing, even I a literate, but mostly non-reading person, did not want to put the book down.

[Amy Lignor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom Coleman’s dad works very hard as the manager of the Food Mart in town. He always seems to be hustling in and out of the store, and this one morning his father runs in once again telling Tom he will be right out to take him to school. Tom waits in the van in the parking lot, and decides to use the extra time to study. As he sits there, Bobby Smalls pulls into the parking lot and almost races to the door. Bobby is one of those “perfect workers” who’s dedicated, always on time, and makes the Food Mart his life.

What Tom Coleman doesn’t expect is the truck that pulls in, backs up to the store, and a man exiting the vehicle with a compound bow in his hand. It’s almost as if Tom is suddenly stuck in some ‘big screen’ war movie instead of the normal, everyday life he always lives. But this is no movie; the men in this truck are there to do some serious damage. Without thinking, Tom begins to beep the horn to warn his dad inside the store. Then, he guns the engine of the van and races toward the evil-doers, trying to save both Bobby Smalls and his father from getting killed. Thankfully, he does. But that is nowhere near the end of what is about to take on Tom’s town; there is a plague that is about to begin, and that plague has a name - meth.

Tom Coleman is a boy who seriously just wants a normal life. Get through school, go off to college, and deal with his sister, Lily, who seems to be headed in a much darker direction than she should be going in. Listening to Lily and his mother fight constantly about the counseling program that Mom says she needs to be in because Lily took a ‘hit’ off a joint, is just one of the events that seems to be happening daily. But normalcy soon turns into a war - in Tom’s own house, as well as outside the walls.

The zombies in this novel are quite different from the ‘fantastical’ creatures that many authors put in their ‘horror’ or ‘sci-fi’ stories. These zombies, with their red eyes, rotted teeth, and pasty skin - are creatures who are very real, and some even look like your neighbors and friends. Things are being stolen, odd chemicals are being purchased at the Food Mart, explosions are taking out houses, and people are beating each other to death to get the main ingredient that they have to have in order to survive. There is nothing Tom wants more than to leave his now disgusting town and turn his back on the creatures that are going to eventually tear he and his family apart. But as Tom showed with his first heroic save, he will NOT go quietly. Tom Coleman is prepared to fight this plague until his final day.

Exciting is not really the word to use here. Reality is. This author has brought to all YA’s (and adults) the very real plague that is happening on all of our streets right this second. Although the characters and plot are certainly right on the money, this is definitely not an entertaining ride or a thrills and chills YA novel - THIS is truth.

A good book that is ultimately an educational text that should be used in high schools across the country; not an entertaining YA novel.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom's story begins on September 10th, 2001. This is the first day he and his sister Lilly join their after-school drug counseling group at the behest of their parents, who feel that both kids are genetically predisposed to addiction. The topic on everyone's mind at the meeting is the appearance of meth in their small Pennsylvania community. The next day, the planes crash in New York, DC and in a field near Tom's town. Bolstered by his English teacher, Tom begins a journal of the events that take place in the year following 9/11. The year has been described as a "plague year", similar to those throughout history. The plague this time is meth. Tom is seeing the evidence of it everywhere in his town, from the the rash of thefts at his father's grocery store, to the number of "meth zombies" walking the streets. Tom, his cousin and his sister continue to remain die-hard members of the drug counseling group and strive to find ways to help fight the plague that has pervaded their town.
It's an interesting story, particularly since it is juxtaposed against the tragedy of 9/11. What 9/11 has to do with the overall storyline, however, is still unclear to me. Triggers for using drugs are discussed and 9/11 is mentioned as an event that could be a trigger, but it is also clear that meth has already invaded rural Pennsylvania. As the story continues, the theme of 9/11 fades into the past as Tom watches his town sink into ruin. The counseling group serves a device to explain the drug itself, but becomes a strange source of tension when the counselor's PhD husband is exposed as a pot-smoker. I can't help but be a little confused at the two drugs being discussed as though they were on the same level. I understand the kids being upset at potential hypocrisy, but meth is so much worse than any plant-based drug and so addictive/deadly that comparing it to pot might lead some kids to assume one is as bad as the other (or, conversely, that if one isn't that bad, then the other likely isn't either). These details make the book feel less cohesive and more naive. The emphasis and then loss of the 9/11 theme feels disjointed and potentially unnecessary, except for proximity (both in time and place). I wanted so much more for this book, but it ultimately had too many flaws for me.

[Matt Kowaleski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book a lot, for some reason, enough to give it 4 stars, but objectively, there are a lot of things that are wrong with it so I decided to bump it down to three. Some random observations:
-apprently edward bloor really likes eternally burning underground fires. theyve shown up in two of his books now in two different locations for two different reasons. the fire in this one made for a cool metaphor, caldera = hell.
-speaking of metaphors, Id never really understood the meaning of being beaten over the head with something until I got absolutely pummeled with the meth = plague metaphor in this book. That probably sounds critical but somehow I didnt actually mind it all that much. Its like reiterating that metaphor became a meme, or something.
-Andrew's character was my favorite thing about the book. Tough, scary, righteous, always sticks up for his friends and goes just a bit too far in taking revenge on people who wrong them. Passionately anti-drug in principle, while at the same time failing to confront drug users he knows because he aint gonna rat on his friends. He's a much more thoughtful, caring person than his type of character usually is, and his arc feels the most developed of any character (including tom!). I really like where it ends up.
-The incorportation of the 9-11 attack into the story was really well done, in my opinion. It was a really Edward Bloor-ian touch to start out a book about drugs by talking about the effect 9-11 had on a bunch of high school students in Pennsylvania, and somehow making those two very different themes feel at home together in the same book.
-there were too many characters, and many felt underdeveloped as a result. ya.

so long story short, read Tangerine by Bloor first. If you like it, read this one too! Its delightfully weird and fascinating, but does have its share of flaws. I know I didnt talk very extensively about the good and bad things about the book, but im tired and nobody will probably read this so eh ^_^

[Claire Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t really like the book A Plague Year. It was very confusing and I felt like it took a very long time to get to the point. The book was supposedly about a town where everyone started using meth and they all turned into “meth zombies” except for a couple people, and they would have to figure out how to take care of these people and help those few survivors to stop using meth. However, the book had many twists and told many separate stories. For instance, when the main character Tom went to Florida with his cousin Arthur to sell Christmas trees and they had a fight with boy scouts who were selling trees in the same lot as them. I felt like that story took up half the book, and it had nothing to do with the main point. There were a lot of stories involving drugs though. The kids, Tom and Lily, became involved in a class that helped fight against drug and alcohol addiction. They attended parties where it was suggested that drugs were being used. And the kids saw a lot of adults getting in trouble with the cops because of drugs. But, I felt as though meth didn’t became a problem until the last third of the book. When people did become zombies, I felt as though it wasn’t as big of a problem as it should have been. Yes, the group of kids from the drug and alcohol class helped the people and tried to find food and shelter for them, but the entire book they built up this huge plot and when it actually happened, there was really nothing to it. And it ended abruptly. There was really no ending. They didn’t solve the problem, they just confronted it then embraced it. I feel like the author could’ve done a better job about creating a problem and solving it, while sticking to the story line through the entire book.

[Cassy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, so, don't get me wrong. I REALLY like Edward Bloor. Tangerine was a great book and, while StoryTime wasn't my most favorite, I still enjoyed it. But A Plague Year was just so poorly executed, I couldn't even stand it half the time.

First off, when you're writing a book about Meth and the effect that it has, you should never lecture. All through this book I felt as if I was being preached to by Bloor. I mean, it seemed as if EVERY class that Tom took was talking about Meth. And then they were talking about it in his guidence group. And then they were talking about it at his job. Everywhere he went, there were meth problems.

What's more, is that almost everyone in his life seemed to have an substance abuse problem. The girl he liked was an alcoholic and her father was on weed, who just happened to be married to the therapist. His uncle was a boozer and his brother a Meth dealer. A number of the employees at his dad's store were meth heads, or on weed. Even his mother had a drug problem! It was really out of hand. I get that the idea was to show people that it's in the most unlikely places, but still.

And then, as with most problem novels, everything seemed to work out for the best in the end. The kids started up a group to help the meth addicts in town. There was a big movement to get the word across school. I mean, the whole thing just really seemed like too much.

Honestly, if you're going to read a problem novel, pick up Crank by Ellen Hopkins. She did it about 1000 times better.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I thought I would be very interested in this book because of it's content. The area that I live in is very small as well and is also dealing with a huge Meth crisis. My husband is a deputy for the Sheriff's Dept. and sees it every day. I've seen the pictures and have even known some current meth users and some recovering meth users. However, I was not looking for a book that lectured you on the use of meth. Unfortunately, this one did just that.


Tom lives in a small town in PA. His journal begins on Sept. 10, 2001. Besides the earth-shattering event that happens the next day, Tom's town is dealing with another crisis. Meth. However, no one really notices or cares except for a drug counseling group.


Tom appears nearly perfect. He studies, obeys his parents (for the most part). His family feels safe or immune from drugs. I did like how the author showed how easy it is to get addicted to drugs and lose control despite the fact that you are a "good" kid. My husband says it takes using meth just one time and you're hooked and I think kids need to know how dangerous it is. However, I think that the lecturing may turn a lot of kids off the book and that is unfortunate.


All in all, not a horrible book but not the best. I would have been fine not finishing it but didn't have to force myself to keep reading either. Just one of those mid-line books

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Post-9/11 the world is becoming overrun with "zombies" which are really just drug-addicted, specifically meth-addicted people who are becoming more desperate to seek the drug and do dangerous things. Scenes within the book include a hold-up at Tom's father's grocery store in which Tom becomes a hero and as the story continues more people are stealing and Tom is attending drug counseling with his formerly addicted sister. The topic seemed interesting, drugs abusers as the next plague, but it wasn't a well-developed as I'd hoped. Part dragged.

"None of them work as hard as I do, but all of them get paid and I don't. I deserve some time off."

"The zombies were spreading a plague. They were turning friends, their family members, and everybody else into more zombies."

"Mr. Proctor said September 11 would change everything, and he was right. Everyone everywhere was freaked out all the time, waiting for the next terrible thing to happen- for the White House to blow up, or the Empire State Building to topple over, or Walt Disney World to go up in a nuclear mushroom cloud. None of that happened, but it felt like it could happen. All of it. And other things that we had not imagined, like we had not imagined the jetliner attacks in New York, and Washington, and Somerset, PA."

[Kammera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in diary form from a ninth grader,Tom Coleman, the book has some good parts and some parts that made me laugh with his really cool cousin, Arthur and his voice is believable for his age. However, I felt all the trouble with the methamphetamine in this Pennsylvania town should have given the author's tone a little more passion. It was somewhat dispassionate but maybe he was trying to see through the eyes of a clueless town and more clueless ninth grade boy? I really liked the metaphor of meth to walking death and how his teacher, Mr. Proctor compares this Meth plague to the bubonic plague of London in 1666. It's here (2001) -and we just can't see it for what it truly is. I think high school would also get another lesson on the events of 9/11 as this is the exact time period the book is set in. The ending was disappointing. It just sort of petered out...... like WHAT? That's it? You can't wrap up a meth plague with..everything is okeydokey now!!!! come on..The author should have given us a killer-no pun intended- cliffhanger..to be continued with good old Tom struggling on to the next thing.OR a really depressing horrible ending -because that IS the reality of this meth. He blew that one.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so disappointed in this book. After reading Bloor's book Tangerine, which is one of my favorite young adult reads, I eagerly jumped on this book -- especially when I found out that it took place in my homestate of Pennsylvania. But the anti-drug message was overdone (forgive me, I grew up in Nancy Reagan's Just Say No campaign), and the characters were flat. Plus, while the author tries to subvert the stereotypes of rural Pennsylvania, he fails miserably. Finally, and perhaps I should let this go because this is a fiction read after all -- but the character makes a comment about a small town in the book that is situated on top of a burning coal mine. Obviously, the author was influenced by the famous Centralia case in Pennsylvania's coal mining history. Centralia is located on the other side of the state -- I'm okay with this reference, but am surprised by the characters' description of this town located over Anthracite coal. Nope. Anthracite coal is on the east side of Pennsylvania, while this book takes place in the south central part of the state. There's just too much that goes wrong with this book. Sigh.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was well written and the characters were well thought out and executed, but this story was not I thought. I was really enjoying the book in the beginning and all the way through to page 200, when I realized that it wasn't going to pick up. That nothing exciting was going to happen. That is when I became disappointed in it.

The story is about how Meth takes over a small Pennslyvania town, and the kids in the local HS are learning about it through one of their classes, in addition to the drug counseling class that is held after school.

The story is told from Tom, a freshmans, point of view. And each section (or chapter, although, they are not technically chapters) has the same format. They begin in the morning, follow Tom at school, then at work, where his father is the general manager, at the Giant Foods and then home in the evening.

I kept waiting for these "zombies" that the book hints at to over-run the town or something exciting along those lines to take place, but nothing does.

Besides for the lack of excitement, action, etc. the book was pretty good.

[Sydney · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointment is not a strong enough word to describe this book. There is no character development, plot climax, or resolution. Every single character is half way developed and I will never read another Edward Bloor book again, this was an awful book. I was looking forward to an edgy story about a town taken over by meth... This was not the case. For one, Tom doesn't even have friends who use meth, he has a few acquaintances - and I hate how he compares the mom's pill addiction to an eating disorder and meth addiction (yes it's addiction but they are whole different monsters). And for the record, people don't overdose on meth and die, you die from starvation or an explosion from making it which is what makes meth use so scary. This problem is not something that is ever "fixed" especially in a small town, so they need to get that straight. There are WAY too many things to complain about in this book so I won't bother. Just don't read this book unless you want to read about a D.A.R.E program basically.

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a retroactively-journaled novel! I kind of like it better than the usual journal format, which sometimes leads to too much blitheness in the narrative tone. More hindsight is necessary here.

The theme of this book could not be accused of subtlety but I still found it believable for the most part. Except for the kindness of so many high school students - not that all of them are overwhelmingly kind--in fact, the mean ones are very mean. But the idea of so many kids going to a voluntary drug counseling club is strange. But I want to believe in that, and I do believe in the idealism of youth, and that it can turn into really beneficial social action. So that carried me through.

Bloor does societal crumbling very well. Social shifts? Social conspiracies orchestrated by no one? I don't know how to describe it. But sometimes the dialogue is a bit too didactic.

[Rene Kirkpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really couldn't put this down. there's something compelling about stories about people in crisis. I don't think he really pulled the connections together as tightly as he could have but it was interesting: He uses an English class studying the bubonic plague to show how meth addiction in this little Pennsylvania town has exploded exponentially. How the community is reacting to it or embracing it. There are a lot of issues in the book, townie versus country, 9/11, drug addiction, hypocritical teachers and adults....But the main character and his family feel safe. It was good to see how easily drugs can infiltrate a supposedly "good" family- it's important to show kids how easy it is to start and not be able to control it.

I really like Edward Bloor's books, this one could have been a little edgier but it was good.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bloor's adolescent male characters are engaging and real for me because they are rarely stereotypical. The troublemakers are passionate believers in good; the studious and obedient make gloriously bad choices and get in trouble. And I like how he explores the father-son relationship (or lack of one). I am speaking generally of the Bloor books I've read as well as this one.

Oh how I wish that teachers could take this approach in school! What better way to make the plague of Europe, the black death (gruesome without much help) relevant by comparing it to zombies. Tom's English teacher connected it even further by tying the zombies to the growing meth use. Brilliant.

This is the first YA book I've read where 9/11 is a current event and thought it was done well. It is hard to write about such a painful event as though it were just happening and still treat it with honor.

[Tina Lowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually liked this title, but I'm giving it three stars mostly because I believe there simply could have been "more." The plot could have been slightly more developed, the characters more fully realized, etc. However, I would recommend it to young people. I think that many young people would not find the same faults with it that I do. I'm even comfortable with it for 7th and 8th graders, which is astounding, because most books about drugs in today's YA market, especially those about meth, are perhaps too gritty to be entirely appropriate for that age group. I think that readers going into this book should keep in mind that there is a message...it is not simply meant to entertain. There's actually quite a bit that could be used as conversation starters with young people, especially those in grades 7-9.

[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. Just....ugh.
Let me start this off with saying that this book could have been such a remarkable read had the author taken a totally different approach and not butchered the holy hell out of this novel. The premise of Blackwater being overtaken by meth zombies had such an appeal to me but... (shudders violently.)

This book was supposed to be written as a journal. But the way it was written wasn't exactly journal-ish. When you write a journal you shorten a few conversations and leave out some details. And I call absolute bullshit on the whole "I can remember it all!" thing.

Also, halfway through the book the protagonist gave his journal away. So... did he write down exactly everything he had previously written in a new journal? Did the book just carry on? He foreshadowed very clearly that he no longer had the first journal, so what am I too make of that?

(sigh)

[Lynx ~ 10/1 Never Forgotten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this book was not what I had expected. I had been hoping for something with a little more action. However, as I read the book it started to grow on me. It started as a book where I was just waiting and waiting for something good to happen. Halfway through, I realized that wasn't going to happen; but by then there was no way I could put it down! Honestly, once that Wendy girl was barely in the book I thought it was a million times better. Seriously hated that character. Other than Wendy and the lack of action, the book was pretty good for an anti-drug kind of book. I'd go so far to say I enjoyed it. It just wasn't what I had expected.