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Do you remember this?? I still have scary memories of it 20 (ish) years later. Nuclear holocaust <shivers>
It was published in 85 but I read it about 10. Is it good that a book stays with you and I should pass to my avid 12 yr old to read, or should I hide it again???

Oh gosh! A couple of years ago I had to go on a mad google frenzy to find this! I read it at school and it really stayed with me... But I think it was so affecting because that was way back, back in the day. Now; there's no Cold War, there's no The Bomb, there's no Chernobyl. I doubt your DD will be terribly impressed

Glad someone else liked it too though! It gets a bit woo in the last section. I have more formed ideas about woo nowadays

Is it a stand alone book or part of a series?

I've not heard of it before but it sounds good. I'd pass it on to your 12 yr old if I were you.

Read it when I was a teenager and remember it vividly, remember thinking "I'd be better at surviving now!" I'm my teenage brain.

Was thinking about that book the other day!

I read it, can still picture the cover. Utterly terrified me, still does slightly. Wow, thanks for the memory! I'd love to read it again, see what it's like.

Gosh, that book still haunts me nearly 30 years on! I'd like to read it again!

I was 11 when it was published btw, so ripe to be scared and carry it as a terrible burden

Google Henry's Quest. It's for littler DC but has a very slightly similar theme, that it's all over but life goes on.

Incredible story. Used to teach it!
Such a haunting start. Walking home. Butterflies. Disaster hits.
Still remember being upset by the dog being left outside.

I remember reading 'Z for Zachariah' serialised in Jackie magazine in the seventies. It still gives me the horrors now.
I suppose these things are dated in that they focus on post-apocalyptic society, but the stories could still be relevant if you think social breakdown due to current world political situations rather than an H-bomb.
I still stockpile food and stuff 'just in case', how weird is that?

I don't know if it was a series, I didn't read them if it was. Kali might be right in that The Bomb' was our thing. Terrorists might be more relevant these days.
The teeth falling out still stays with me, I have nightmares about that.
It's funny how books read as a child have more impact than any books I've read as an adult (and there's been a lot)

Homo superior, children of the dust.

Loved that one. There was one called Empty World where all but about 5 people in the country had died. Z for Zachariah had that rather creepy bloke so didn't like it.as.much.

I had this

<shudders>

Oh, I'd forgotten about the dog.

Glad I'm not the only one this has an affect on.

It really was an awfully grown up book and I do think it taught me a lot. That sometimes you have to leave the dog outside, that you have to accept that you won't make it but recognise who will. That you can learn advanced subjects at a times-table age. That school isnt the knly yhing that will ever happen to you and that humans aren't the ne plus ultra of what's going to happen to this planet. Big stuff.

That book fucking terrified me

Oh I loved that book, although the dog bit was awful. I read it when I was about 9 and loved it so much my mum then gave me another end of the world book to read, I think it was called on the beach by Neville someone, so I always remember both books together, they were both brilliant.

Scary book. I remember the poor dog being left outside, and the bratty brother.

It is obviously a Z for Zachariah type thing.
We did ZFZ in English when I was 13. I loved the book, not really the film/tv adaptation. Jeremy Irons in a dingly dell and you saw his penis. And he sicked up bright yellow vom. Very racy for a Catholic school.
I used to have sleepless nights becuase of that book, over the 3 minute warning because I wouldn't be able to get to both of my parents as they'd just divorced.

Just so much arse.

Oh, and John Wyndham's 'The Chrysalids' was another one. Must have been 10 or eleven when I read it and it's still with me now!

I was about 13 when I read it, and I remember going 'Ewwwwwwww' at the girl and the survival dude ending up making babies.

Please give it to your DD, OP. And give her The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy to cheer her up

Then make her listen to Kick by INXS while she reads them.......

Was there a film of Z for Zachariah then? Thank God I never saw it.

That book gave me nightmares for about 15 years after I read it aged 11. It was in the school library and had an awful fascination for me, I couldn't bear to read it again but I used to peek into it every now and then. Also When the Wind Blows if that is what it was called.

I also read Empty World and The Crysalids but nothing freaked me out like Children of the Dust.

Yes! When the wind blows. This thread is bringing back such memories. A slightly different theme but did anyone else read The best little girl in the world? Or Go ask Alice? Both have stayed with me for decades.

Lilith!