After a complete breakdown of society in the not-too-distant future, most people survive by their wits, trying hard not to anger the gang leaders who rule small turfs comprised of decaying urban neighborhoods. Like his peers, teenage Spaz does what his gang leader tells him, regularly breaking and entering strangers’ homes to take what few valuables remain. But unlike his peers, Spaz does not use mind-altering recreational drugs because he has epilepsy. So when he meets an old man named Ryter who possesses an odd relic called a book, Spaz is open to new possibilities. And Ryter, it turns out, has the knowledge Spaz needs to cross through forbidden enemy territories to find his sister. For teens not quite ready for A Clockwork Orange , this offers some of the same flavor: a bleak but plausible future that Rodman Philbrick constructs by logically extending the worst of contemporary life; the use of drugs and violence as a means of control; an invented slang that readers must figure out from context; and a young narrator who recounts extraordinary occurrences with dry understatement. His voice provides comic relief in an otherwise heavy story. (Ages 13-16)

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.

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