After the Bomb written by Gloria Miklowitz is a thrilling novel that takes place before, during, and after a bomb which supposedly was sent from Russia by accident. L.A. and surrounding cities are all altered by the disastrous happening. Philip Singer a teenager is in a position as leader of the family. His brother Matt is awfully sick, possibly from radiation, his father was away at work during the blast and for all Philip knows he might be dead, and his mother was desperately injured and needs immediate attention. Hospitals are flooded with injured and dying people and the government doesn't send help for a few days. The badly injured don't even get the chance to be helped because the hospitals have to send the ones that are likely going to live to hospitals that specialize in burns. His mother is so badly burned that the hospitals put her on the bottom of the list to be flown to burn centers. By the end of the novel Philip has taken charge, snuck his mom ahead to be flown to a burn center, and in a sense saved his town from thirst. He truly survived the terror, shock, and danger of the bomb.

The novel goes through a couple of settings such as, Philip's struggle to keep his family alive, and the conflict between the nature of a nuclear bomb against the Los Angeles area. When the bomb hits he is playing around in a playroom shelter with his brother and his girlfriend. They go out to find out what had happened and found burning houses, their house only left with one wall, rubble on the ground, debris all over the place, and people running frantically for shelter. Philip's brother became sick after finding his mother and bringing her back down to the shelter, and found that his mother had been burnt severely and needed immediate medical attention. Philip struggles to keep his brother from getting even more sick than he was and to bring his mother to a hospital. Philip's family weren't the only people affected by the bomb. the entire surrounding area of Los Angeles was pounded by a devastating bomb. Churches, Hospitals, and streets were flooded with sick, dying, and even dead people. Hospitals that were built to only withstand 200 people now have thousands, and hospitals lack food, doctors, and water. Philip's struggle for survival, and the devastating blow against L.A. was only the beginning of the disastrous bomb.

The setting is practically the whole plot of the novel showing Philip's struggle to get his mother to a burn center that could save her life, bring his family to safety, and to save his town from thirst. When Philip arrives at the hospital with his mom the government and hospital had already started flying patients to burn centers, but his mom was too sick and burnt so the hospital didn't care for her. She was placed on the bottom of list to be flown away. Philip secretly switches the tag on her mom with one that says and earlier number so that she would be flown out more promptly. He does so and she is flown out early and he most probably saved her life by doing so. Another example was when the bomb had just struck and Philip's family was in the shelter which wasn't very safe and stable. He went up to the surface to check out his neighbor's house which was miraculously intact. Philip found the owner and his wife in good shape and arranged to bring his family over to the neighbor's cool basement for safety and refuge. A third example was when the hospital in his town was almost pout of water and Philip was asked by a nurse to find a worker that works with the town' s plumbing at his house and manage to get water to the hospital. He did so and after a while drained water from a resident's pool and had it flown down to the hospital. These are some examples of how the setting functions in the novel.

After the Bomb is an exciting and stimulating novel which shows the leadership of a teenager over his family. The novel displays a realistic happening that can happen any second and describes it intricately. It's an electrifying, terrifying, and exhilarating rush and is an outstanding novel.

Survival was only the beginning...