Name: Phoenix Rising
ISBN: 9780140376289

Karen Hesse

An accident at the nearby nuclear power plant disrupts the peaceful lives of Nyle and her grandmother, as they confront death, anguish, and disaster. By the author of Letters from Rifka. Reprint.

Phoenix Rising

Jeni Enjaian

This book took me completely by surprise. 
As I go through my TBR and read the oldest books on the list based on when I added them to the list, I expected to find myself disappointed with a lot of the middle grades and young adult books that I added to the list because my tastes have changed (only a little apparently) and I have been exposed to basically a whole new world of books in the genre.
It turns out that I had a higher standard than I thought.
Hesse made me think with this book, a sort of speculative fiction wherein the narrative is set after a catastrophic accident at a nearby nuclear power plant. How would people react? How would the radiation and the contamination affect people's lives even if the radiation blew in a different direction of their town? Also, it turns out that Hesse has a good judge of character, at least in terms of how people will react to mandated mask wearing.
This book definitely made me think and will find its place on my classroom library shelves.