When their water is shut off without warning, Alyssa, her ten-year-old brother Garrett, and their parents assume it’s temporary and head to the store for a case of water to tide them over. But Costco is a madhouse, and all the water is gone. It’s the beginning of what is dubbed the “Tap-Out”: Arizona has blocked the Colorado River due to water shortages, throwing Southern California into a state of crisis and panic. In addition to Alyssa and Garrett, this riveting and all-too-believable narrative focuses on Kelton, Alyssa’s classmate and next- door neighbor, and Jacqui, a tough-as-nails teen they meet. Kelton’s family are “preppers.” They have weeks’ worth of food and water, an arsenal of weapons, and their own electricity, all of which make them a target. They also have a “bug-out” with additional supplies hidden in the woods. They pick up Jacqui on their arduous and obstacle-riddled journey to the bug-out. Snapshots of others—a journalist, a teammate of Alyssa’s, a member of the National Guard, etc.—provide a fuller picture of the chaos as it develops. A range of human behavior is on display in this chillingly credible novel, from the utterly desperate acts of those dying of thirst to the brilliant resourcefulness of others, in a story that serves as a warning of what may come if we fail to halt climate change. (Age 13 and older)

“The authors do not hold back.” —Booklist (starred review)
“The palpable desperation that pervades the plot…feels true, giving it a chilling air of inevitability.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The Shustermans challenge readers.” —School Library Journal (starred review)
“No one does doom like Neal Shusterman.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

When the California drought escalates to catastrophic proportions, one teen is forced to make life and death decisions for her family in this harrowing story of survival from New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman.

The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.

Until the taps run dry.

Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbors and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.