** spoiler alert ** 
 GENRE: Fiction:Realistic fiction. 
 SUBJECT/THEMES: War, farm life, cousins, loss, starvation, eating issues, love. 
 SUMMARY: Daisy's father sends her away from New York City to stay with her Aunt and cousins on their farm in England. Daisy quickly overcomes the culture shock of goats, chickens, not much technology and lots of cousins, and finds herself falling in love with Edmond, one of her three male cousins. Daisy's aunt has left them alone, for her work to prevent a third world war is busying and persistent. A bombing of a London train station slowly changes everything for the group of teenagers, and the youngest, 9-year-old Piper. Before long Daisy and Piper are separated from the boys, and taken to live with a foster family. Daisy calms herself by sending and receiving thought messages from Edmond. The war breaks out all over, and Daisy and Piper decide to head towards the farm they believe the rest of their family may be. After a week of difficult traveling they reach the farm, but someone else got there first. 
 EVALUATION: I loved Daisy's irreverent style of narration. Things that she wants to emphasize are written with capital letters. We get a strong sense of who Daisy is, for she lets us into all her thoughts, whether or not she chooses to express them to anyone else. The first part of the book has some humorous moments, and is much lighter in tone than before the time in the story when the effects of the war became apparent. It's very well-written overall. 
 WHY I WOULD INCLUDE IT: A war on our home territory may not be something many teens give a lot of thought to, though it is a possibility. How I Live Now gives the reader an idea of how such a horrific event might affect them. Further, Daisy is a wonderful character, dealing with so many issues on top of the war: struggles with her stepmother and impending sibling, feelings of rejection by her father, the loss of her mother when she was born, and the loss of Edmond for six years. All of this provides much food for thought. 
 ITEMS WITH SIMILAR APPEAL: 
 *	Feed, by M.T. Anderson. 
 *	The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier. 
 *	Looking for Alaska, by John Green. 
 *	Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi. 
 *	The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak.