School's Out Kindle Edition

In the afterword, author Brian Keene shares a story about driving his son to school and engaging in a conversation about how the boy will always have to go to school. His son refutes the claim, telling Keene that he won't have to go to school after the apocalypse. The idea stuck, and Brian picked his kid's brain for more details, embarking on a collaboration with his nine-year-old that resulted in School's Out, a small, fun bit of middle-grade horror fiction.School's Out is geared toward a younger audience (the sentences are short, and the prose is kept pretty simple), although it does have decidedly dark, adult themes running through its core. Eight-year-old Alan is stuck in the confines of his home after his father dies from an apocalyptic virus ravaging the country. We're spared the worst of the devastation given the narrow premise and Alan's innocence, but there's enough inferences made to let the horror's hit home. The more immediate threat, though, is Alan's dead father and the boy's close and uncomfortable encounter with human mortality. Because this is aimed at younger audiences, Keene spares us the gross details, but the less-is-more approach lets adult imaginations run rampant and invokes more than a few moments of uncomfortable squirms.Parents will want to read School's Out before exposing their children to it and determine if their kids are mature enough for the story and its themes. The good news is, it's a fine enough read for adult audiences looking for an hour's entertainment.

In School’s Out, Keene doesn’t break much new ground in the post apocalyptic world. Yet, where this novella stands out is in the voice of it’s main character and the pure visceralness of the writing. Inspired by his sons view of the apocalypse, Keene doesn’t cute it up. This isn’t some cozy apocalypse, but a brutal landscape seen through the eyes of a child. Keene doesn’t attempt to make his main character anything more than he is, a normal kid dealing with a situation that most adults would have trouble grasping. Keene delivers the tale in a way that brutally honest to kids, yet never gratuitously so. There is no agenda or attempts to teach moral lessons, just revealing a potential world as realistically as possible. I think this would be a good tale to read with a child, and may lead to some interesting conversations.

School's Out by Brian Keene is a horror novella that I can recommend to my friends AND their kids. The focus of the story is all about Alan's level of critical thinking during a pandemic, which has taken his parents away from him. He often references YouTube videos and his parents to make decisions.During his time alone, Alan faces everything from caring for himself and his cat to stranger danger and feral dogs. Not to mention that Alan is also on the autism spectrum. Throughout the story, I felt the boy's feelings, thoughts, and actions were believable behavior from a grade-schooler facing multiple hardships.My own son, at age 8, had grown up with a mom writing for horror websites, and a dad performing stunt choreography in dozens of horror movies. My son also acted in a zombie movie (his character even survives to the end), so the topic of "what if" in an apocalyptic situation is something my son grew up with.It sounds extreme, as well as morbid, but planning for a worst-case scenario prepared my son for common emergencies. Additionally, the "what if" discussions made it easier to address the serious topics in the news headlines. I highly recommend this story as a way to have your own "what if" discussion with your kids. Their responses might delight and surprise you.

Being a parent, as well as a fan of post apocalyptic fiction, it has always been a thought in my mind....what would happen to my son if something happened, and i wasn't able to be there with him? This book addresses that very fear. It was extremely well written, and my heart just broke for this poor kid, left all alone and scared in a big, empty world. This novella definitely wasn't as graphic as I'm used to in Keene's books, but there is still that creepy ominous feeling, that I've come to expect from Keene. This book is absolutely appropriate for parents and kids alike, and I highly enjoyed it!! I would love to read a sequel, to find out what happens next in Alan's story. Great job!! And how very cool that Keene and his son were able to work together on this, what an amazing experience that must have been!!

I love Brian Keene's novels and I enjoy the he'll out of his short stories but time and time again he has blown me away with his novellas. This one is around 80 pages or so (probably shorter minus the Afterward) and the plot is as simple as it gets. Sometimes less is more and this story is pretty heart wrenching, as well as terrifying without it being horror induced. An eight year old boy and his cat, Smokey are left to fend for themselves while the population is going through a panedemic. That's it...but the way Keene writes, it's a lot more personal than that. There's more meaning and heart behind the story and it really comes through in the delivery. This is a one sitting kind of read but I'll promise that you'll enjoy it and be moved by it.

The details including, smells, sights, frustrations all from the child’s eye view made this tale familiar but chilling. As a parent, this is exactly what you never want your kid to experience. At the same time, we can see that the boy may be more resilient than an adult in this instance?

Keene says this is his son's story and I believe it story is written as I imagine a young boy would live if left alone. Great literary snack between novels.....Enjoy

A Hell of a idea and we'll written. I will definitely let my son read it one day in the near future. Hope to see more from such a talented you g mind who obviously takes after dad

I really enjoyed this as a tiny, contained view of the apocalypse. the reality of a child of around 8 alone in the post-apocalypse makes sense that he would stay home unless absolutely necessary. There would be no journey across America to rescue his mother or hiking to a military base to seek shelter. In that way, this book is excellent. Kudos to Keene and Dungeonmaster 77.1.My only gripe is the typo in the last line and the confusion it caused in my brain trying to unp[ack what it meant for five minutes before realizing it's the wrong word.