Stephen is a scavenger, traveling the post-Collapse landscape with his dad and ex-Marine grandfather. His father and grandfather have never seen eye-to-eye about how to survive, with his father preferring to help others whenever possible and his grandfather erring toward isolation. But now his grandfather is dead, and Stephen and his dad are making their own way. An effort to help a family captured by slavers ultimately results in a tragic accident, leaving Stephen to decide if he's more like his father or grandfather. Stephen's decisions bring him to a small town, a seemingly-bucolic village of pre-Collapse life. Stephen's experience in the outside world makes him distrustful of such a peaceful existence, and he's barely spent any time in Settler's Landing before he's planning for his departure. When a juvenile prank incites a war, Stephen's decisions are no longer just his own: anything he does will affect an entire community, and determine whether they'll continue to live in their slice of the past, or move forward in creating a new world. 
 Okay, so the Collapse: something about China executing, or detaining (don't remember) two Americans, which started a conflict that grew into a war; the US launched some nukes at China and China unleashed biological weapons, specifically a particularly nasty strain of flu, P11H3. P11, or the Eleventh Plague, killed millions of people, and with all those people dead all kinds of services (hospitals, schools, power stations, etc) shut down and more people died. The end result: the collapse of civilization and a TON of anti-Chinese racism. 
 Obvious similarities to The Road, at least in Part 1. Other readalikes: Restoring Harmony, for joining up with a new community? The Chaos Walking series, for joining new communities and having all that pesky war-mongering going on? 
 7th-10th grade appeal; maybe a little older for students who want their post-apocalyptic wars somewhat clean and sanitized. (view spoiler)[And WTH was up with that romance, like "oh hey you're a GIRL so I LOVE YOU NOW EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE A JERK TO EVERYONE LET'S MAKE OUT"? (hide spoiler)]