Post-apocalyptic / dystopian fiction is a popular genre in young adult literature.  OBS is focusing on young adult literature that fits in this genre, but share one specific element. In all the books featured in this post, children/young adults are the only survivors of a catastrophe and forced to rebuild society and survive on their own.

GONE by Michael Grant (Book 1 in a six-part series)

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.

Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what’s happened.

  

  

HUNGER by Michael Grant (Book 2)

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It’s a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else…

It’s been three months since everyone under the age of fourteen became trapped in the bubble known as the FAYZ. Things have only gotten worse. Food is running out, and each day more kids are developing supernatural abilities. Soon tension rises between those with powers and those without, and when an unspeakable tragedy occurs, chaos erupts. It’s the normals against the mutants, and the battle promises to turn bloody.

But something more dangerous lurks. A sinister creature known as the Darkness has begun to call to the survivors in the FAYZ. It needs their powers to sustain its own. When the Darkness calls, someone will answer — with deadly results.

LIES by Michael Grant (Book 3) – released May 4, 2010

It will be about deception — the lies people tell for greed, the lies they tell for the best of reasons, and the lies they tell themselves. Kids will do some desperate things in LIES. But I’m not giving away any spoilers. Except that some of you are really going to be mad at me for something that… no, wait, I’m not even going to hint.

 

  

  

NEPTUNE’S CHILDREN by Bonnie Dobkin

A day at the fabled amusement park Isles of Wonder turns deadly when a world-wide biological attack kills every adult, leaving behind only the kids to fend for themselves. Isolated from the world, unsure of what lies ahead, the young survivors assemble under the statue of King Neptune, the mythical ruler of the Isles, to form a new society. Led by the children of the park workers, they choose to remain closed off from the outside world living relatively comfortably inside the self-contained park. But when violence from the infested outside world appears to infiltrate their safe zone, one small group discovers a secret society and a hidden system of underground tunnels, and the stage is set for a war that will determine the future of everyone on the Isles.

THE COMET’S CURSE by Dom Testa

When the tail of the comet Bhaktul flicks through the Earth-s atmosphere, deadly particles are left in its wake. Suddenly, mankind is confronted with a virus that devastates the adult population. Only those under the age of eighteen seem to be immune. Desperate to save humanity, a renowned scientist proposes a bold plan: to create a ship that will carry a crew of 251 teenagers to a home in a distant solar system. Two years later, the Galahad and its crew-none over the age of sixteen-is launched. Two years of training have prepared the crew for the challenges of space travel. But soon after departing Earth, they discover that a saboteur is hiding on the Galahad! Faced with escalating acts of vandalism and terrorized by threatening messages, sixteen-year-old Triana Martell and her council soon realize that the stowaway will do anything to ensure that the Galahad never reaches its destination. The teens must find a way to neutralize their enemy. For if their mission fails, it will mean the end of the human race-. When the tail of the comet Bhaktul flicks through the Earth-s atmosphere, deadly particles are left in its wake. Suddenly, mankind is confronted with a virus that devastates the adult population. Only those under the age of eighteen seem to be immune. Desperate to save humanity, a renowned scientist proposes a bold plan: to create a ship that will carry a crew of 251 teenagers to a home in a distant solar system. Two years later, the Galahad and its crew-none over the age of sixteen-is launched. Two years of training have prepared the crew for the challenges of space travel. But soon after departing Earth, they discover that a saboteur is hiding on the Galahad! Faced with escalating acts of vandalism and terrorized by threatening messages, sixteen-year-old Triana Martell and her council soon realize that the stowaway will do anything to ensure that the Galahad never reaches its destination. The teens must find a way to neutralize their enemy. For if their mission fails, it will mean the end of the human race.

COUNTDOWN by Daniel Parker (12 book series)

As the new year dawns, a reported “massive solar flare” causes power failures all over the globe and adults and children everywhere to melt into piles of “black goo.” Only young adults are spared, among them a quartet of drunken high school kids in suburban Seattle, two teens whose fake IDs have gained them entry to a New York City nightclub, a cocky young doctor in a Texas hospital, a pair of tough-talking inmates in a Pittsburgh jail, and Sarah and Joshua Levy who desperately search the ancient scroll of their granduncle Elijah for clues to the apocalyptic event.

FIRE-US by Jennifer Armstrong and Nancy Butcher

The Fire-us trilogy gets off to a dynamic start in this first entry set in 2007, five years after a catastrophic virus has apparently killed all the adults and nearly everyone else. Seven children seem to be the only survivors. They live as a family in a run-down house in a small Florida town; none of them remembers much about the Before Time. Teenage Teacher is the oldest and the keeper of The Book, a carefully constructed scrapbook in which she finds inspiration for the group. Mommy and Hunter are also teens; Action Figure, Teddy Bear, Baby, and Doll are younger children. Then teenage Anchorman (dubbed Angerman by the little ones) shows up and convinces the family to join him on a long trek to Washington, D.C., to find a Grown-up called President.