{Synopsis} –Zippy Green never meant to fall in love with a girl, but when she does, her ultra-conservative father tries to send her to anti-gay camp. At the Kansas City airport, however, she hides inside a giant suitcase and sneaks onto an airplane headed not to the camp, but to Seattle, where her online love Mira lives. Halfway through the flight, the plane barrels out of control and crashes into the ground, knocking her unconscious.
When Zippy awakens, she finds that most of the passengers have vanished. She doesn’t know what’s happened, but she’s determined to find out. She begins a quest on foot toward Seattle, and along the way, she meets a teenager with a concussion, a homeless man with a heart condition, a child without a shred of bravery, and a terrier named Judy. Together the group discovers that more than two-thirds of the world's population have mysteriously disappeared. But that's only the beginning…
All Zippy wants is to find her Mira, but before she can she has to contend with two outside forces. The first is her homophobic father, who does everything in his power to keep her from the girl she loves. And the second is extinct creatures of all shapes and sizes, including living, breathing dinosaurs, which have replaced the missing population.
{My Thoughts} – This book is about a teenage girl that meets the love of her life online. She sets out on this quest to locate her and a lot of odd things start happening along the way. This book covers religion, gay/ lesbians, and many kinds of emotions. I have to admit this wasn’t what I was expecting in terms of a book loosely based on “the wizard of oz,” however it was written in away that the transitions flowed nicely. I enjoyed getting to know Zippy and her family through flashbacks and present day. I think it would have been nicer if there was more detailed information about Mira, Mr. Balm and Elle, however I can see how it isn’t actually needed. I believe more of a description would have helped to make the characters more real. The introduction of extinct animals and the concept of the rapture taking place was an interesting twist and take on what mixing the past with the present could turn out like. I overall enjoyed the book and believe it is a nice read all around as it was able to keep my interest through to the end. The only complaint I have is I don’t like that it was written in the early ’90’s as that is when technology wasn’t all that great and I would have liked it to expand more in the area of gay/ lesbian relations.
Final Conclusion: 4 Star Rating.
