I read a book at school in the 1980's about a boy who survived a nuclear war. What was the name of the book?

Answer 1

I think it was Z for Zacharia or something like that. We read it too when I was about 12! Quite a tough subject for that age, don't you think?

Answer 2

There were plenty of books in the 1980s about people in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Two of the main ones for children were:
Z for Zachariah, but this is from the point of view of a girl who is the only survivor in an isolated valley; and
Children of the Dust, which has a number of interlinked stories over several years after the war, including a young family, and a group of people in a military bunker.

Neither of these sound like your book, but they are both worth reading - if a little unrealistic these days.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

If it was about a teenage boy in a Northern British town, then it was Brother in the Land, by Robert Swindells. He happened to be sheltering from the rain in an old hut outside the town, when the bombs fell, which is why he wasn't killed immediately. His mother died straight away, and his father was killed not long after, and for most of the novel it's about Danny and his small brother Ben, and a girl called Kim.

It's an absolutely excellent book, and available on Amazon etc.

Answer 5

I agree with the above poster -- more information is needed before we can make a proper identification. There are dozens of post-nuclear war books from the 1980's.

Answer 6

I'd forgotten about that book, we read it in the first or second year of high school. Your question rang a bell, but I had to look at the other answers to find out the name - I think it was Z for Zacharia. At the time it seemed a very heavy book for a child to be reading - if we read it again now, it probably wouldn't be so bad.

Answer 7

I don't think it was any of the suggestions so far. I can't remember the name either but if it is the same book the boy had a younger sister he tried to keep uncontaminated. He was holed up in his home at first and covered the windows, ran water and stored water in the few minutes warning on the radio. I think his dog was outside for a while and he agonised over not letting it in. At the end he made contact with a group of people who were growing food in greenhouses and took his sister to them using black bin liners to keep her covered up.

Answer 8

If you are in England it would have been Brother in the Land, it was part of the O - level syllabus during the 1980's and was compulsory reading.

Answer 9

Brother in the Land by Robert Swindells.

Its still available - see http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0140373004%3ftag=everyclick-21%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26dev-t=1R513BT7W1PSJEFVAAG2

Answer 10

I think it's brother in the land

I had to read it in school

His entirely family dies because they've been drinking rain water from the chimney which was poisoned with radiation but he'd been drinking bottled water or something?