Little do high school sophomores Scotty and his pals know that the incoming blizzard is a "storm of the century" that won't stop for nearly a week. They make a fateful decision to hang out in the wood shop after school, and by the time they are ready to leave, they have no way of knowing that it's too late for anyone to reach them, even if they tried. They are among seven kids left waiting at school that day. At first it doesn't seem so bad spending the night at school, especially with the very cute Julie and Krista sleeping in the next room. However, as the realization dawns that it's likely nobody even knows they are there, the adventure turns to a fight for survival when the power and heat go out, the pipes freeze, and the building itself begins to crumble. The kids are forced to make a decision about their survival that will change things forever.

Trapped is taut and gripping from the get-go, and would be appropriate for teens of all ages, although the possibility of a real-life natural disaster of this magnitude forcing kids into a life and death situation could be distressing to some. Teens will find the personalities of the seven students to be very realistic representations of kids at their own school, and perhaps the fact that there is no predictable "hero" among them adds to the tension. Romance isn't a big part of the plot, but there is an attraction between two of the students that leads to a misunderstanding and a physical altercation between two others. There is a student death during the course of the story, which forces the eventual hero to push himself beyond what he thought were his limits to find help. All told, this book is a fast read that will appeal to even reluctant readers, and particularly boys. Sex and language are non-issues, though the boys in particular will appreciate the bits of potty humor that pop up along the way.

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