Have you checked out our various Features pages lately? Julie and I are all about Features posts. (Who doesn’t need an occasional break from reviews?) In this feature post, we will be discussing What Books Taught Us. And no, we don’t mean cooking, crafting, or organizing. We are talking about serious, useful skills.
Like how to how to survive a pandemic. M-O-O-N, that spells Pandemic. Yes, it’s topical! And we want to make sure all of our readers are prepared!
1. You need to have a squad to support you. Katniss has Peeta, Effie, Haymitch, and even Gale. Tris has the whole Dauntless crew. I read Aurora Burning at the beginning of our quarantine and Squad 312 is the #squadgoals that I would aim for! Your squad is there to support you when you need help. Listen to you when you need to complain. And have your back when you need rescuing. Get your squad together and read these books!
2. You need to hoard stockpile all the food. Who else recalls the scene of Cassie from The 5th Wave at the convince store? And one of the few plot points I remember from Poison Princess is the stuffed pantry and Evie’s gardening skills at growing food. (Well, that and the boy character had a motorcycle. 😏 ). And let’s not forget the titular cake in Night of Cake and Puppets! Food is certainly important for our day to day survival. But even more so is having food that brings you comfort. Like ice cream. And banana bread. I’m sure Peeta would make an awesome banana bread!
3. You need to use your brain! Living in a pandemic is crazy. You have to be smart, follow reputable sources for information, and keep your head out of the conspiracy theories. Books like Birthmarked show us that when you’re smart, you can figure out what’s going on and help yourself. But if you’re too smart, you can also get in trouble. So stay the course, keep going to keep yourself and your family safe, but don’t draw attention of the baddies that pandemics and apocalypse life tend to bring out. The Testing also showed us that calmy thinking through situations and all the information presented can help find the right answer, and keep us alive. And that people can’t be trusted blindly.
4. Become adaptable and develop resilience. Katniss showed us that thinking on the fly can save your life. Our tiny hero from Ender’s Game taught us “the enemy’s gate is down” – the ultimate quote to remember to change our perspective and adjust to the situation at hand. Tris in Divergent gains strength of body and character throughout her life’s path in the trilogy.
5. Have amazing skills at healing. No, we aren’t talking about hand-washing. (THOUGH THAT’S ALWAYS HELPFUL). We are talking about magical healing abilities. You could have rune-writing abilities like the Shadowhunters. Jace, Clary, Alec, and the rest of the crew in The Mortal Instruments series can heal themselves with any number of runes. Or maybe you are more into drawing your own superhero costume like Adrian in the Renegades? He could draw himself the best mask! It could automatically appear when there are other people within 6 feet! Or how about Wanderer\Melanie in The Host? Ok, sure, some of the Souls aren’t so great. But being able to heal a very injured body could come in handy!
Here are more YA novels to help you process the pandemic.
What have books taught you about pandemic life? Share with us in the comments!
How are you personally coping with isolation?
Love this! I don’t think I learned most of these lessons, though. so I might be in trouble! (I do have a good family “crew” though. 🙂 )
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…My Successful Sneak Attack Using Fiction. Let’s Discuss
lol Nicole! Looks like you still have time to learn!
Wow love this post. What a way to tie in wisdom gleamed from books to the real world!
Jane recently posted…Matte Golf Balls?
Thanks, Jane!
This is a great post! And wise (and funny) words. Thanks!
Thanks, Kristine, Gifs (and books!) for the Win!