Scientists continue to debate various theories about what caused the normal flow of electrical current to be disrupted after the massive solar event that New Year’s Eve. Some cite geomagnetic field interruption, others the effects of a lingering electromagnetic pulse. Thus far there has been no proven or satisfactory explanation for the phenomena, although Mr. Mangano’s own particular theory was published in a scientific journal. Whatever the cause, almost all scientists agree it could happen again, and people should be prepared.
Reginald Kingman recovered from his wounds and eventually returned to his old job as school custodian. He continues to be the volunteer police officer for Harmony, New Hampshire, and regularly presides at school assemblies and parades. No one has called him Barf Man in a very long time.
Webster Bragg was indicted for attempted murder of a police officer. He and his family fled their compound with a cache of weapons and a quantity of gold sovereigns. Mr. Bragg remains at large. Rumors that he attempted to establish his own country in the mountains of Paraguay have never been proven.
Mrs. Adler oversaw the rebuilding of the Superette, presided at the grand opening, and then abruptly retired. She intends to run for town council.
Renny Boncoeur and his team of huskies will be competing in the Iditarod next year. His parents, Pete and Louise, plan to be at the finish line in Nome, Alaska.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Robert “Boonie” Givens sobered up and got a part-time job. His kids are still bullies and his dogs remain vicious, but there’s always hope.
And just last week Rebecca Cobb and Gary “Gronk” Small announced they would be taking each other to the Harmony Harvest & Homecoming Dance.
Charlie is not sure how he feels about that.
In 1859 an amateur astronomer named Richard Carrington happened to witness the eruption of a giant fireball from the sun. The resulting collision of the solar flare with Earth’s atmosphere caused auroras as bright as daylight. The eruption of the Carrington solar flares was equivalent to the energy of ten billion atomic bombs, and the resulting geomagnetic storm damaged equipment and made it impossible to transmit telegraph signals, the only means of electrical communication at the time.
A similar event today (or tomorrow) might well result in a massive power outage. An even larger event—always a possibility—could be as devastating as the events described in this book.
Try entering the following phrases in a search engine:
Carrington event 1859
Massive solar flare
Coronal mass ejection
Geomagnetic event
Geomagnetic field excursions
Laschamp event
Building a simple crystal radio
Keep reading. Record your thoughts and reactions. And you might want to write it down on paper or print out a copy. Just in case.
Newbery Honor author Rodman Philbrick has written more than a dozen novels for young readers. In 1993, he published his first children’s book, Freak the Mighty, which became an instant classic and won the California Young Reader Medal, among its many awards. Freak the Mighty was also made into a Miramax feature film, The Mighty, starring Sharon Stone.
In 2009, Philbrick published a dramatic historical novel about an orphan boy’s adventures as he searches for his brother during the Civil War. Filled with colorful detail, as well as the highly emotional role of Maine soldiers during the Battle of Gettysburg, that book, The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg, was chosen as a Newbery Honor Book and an ALA Notable Book.
Philbrick’s novels have been received with great acclaim, and they include Max the Mighty; The Fire Pony; The Young Man and the Sea; REM World; The Last Book in the Universe; and most recently Zane and the Hurricane: A Story of Katrina, published in 2014 to numerous starred reviews and citations.
Rodman Philbrick grew up in a small town in New England, and he currently divides his time between Maine and the Florida Keys. You can learn more about him on his website: www.RodmanPhilbrick.com.
ALSO BY RODMAN PHILBRICK
Freak the Mighty
The Fire Pony
Max the Mighty
REM World
The Last Book in the Universe
The Young Man and the Sea
The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
Zane and the Hurricane
Abduction
(written with Lynn Harnett)
SERIES
DEAR AMERICA: MY NAME IS AMERICA
The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds,
The Donner Party Expedition, 1846
THE HOUSE ON CHERRY STREET
(written with Lynn Harnett)
The Haunting
The Horror
The Final Nightmare
THE WEREWOLF CHRONICLES
(written with Lynn Harnett)
Night Creature
Children of the Wolf
The Wereing
VISITORS
(written with Lynn Harnett)
Strange Invaders
Things
Brain Stealers
The Blue Sky Press
Copyright © 2016 by Rodman Philbrick
All rights reserved. Published by The Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, THE BLUE SKY PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress catalog card number: 2015009013
First edition, January 2016
Cover art © 2016 by Tim O’Brien
Star background © Alan Dyer/Visuals Unlimited/Getty Images
Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi
e-ISBN 978-0-545-78977-6
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Rodman Philbrick, The Big Dark
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