As a kid, I was never censored from reading or watching intense, scary, or disturbing content. My parents trusted me to know what I could or could not handle. I feel like that helped me to differentiate fantasy from reality, fear from understanding, and ignorance from knowledge.
Author Jacob Paul Patchen also trusts his readers with intense subject matter. His dystopian middle grade novel, Sheltered: When a Boy Becomes a Legend, puts children front and center as resistance fighters in a war for the soul of the United States. Below is my review of Sheltered along with an interview with Patchen about his book.
Sheltered plot summary
James is barely out of middle school when the United States is attacked by terrorists, leaving him alone in the bunker that his father built in the woods near their home before he walked out on his family. With his mother at work and his older sister, Emily, out with her boyfriend, Dan, when the attacks begin, there is no telling what has become of the remaining members of his family.
Using the knowledge gained by his military father along with his determination to stay alive, James is able to stay hidden and survive before reuniting with his sister and the other children who managed not to get caught and killed or placed in prison camps. They form a group called The Risers who not only survive but plan to fight back against the terrorists and do their part to save the imprisoned Americans and become legends in this dystopian war.
The story
The bulk of Sheltered is told in flashbacks as James recounts his story to a group of children before bed one night. Being the leader, the children are eager to hear of how he survived in isolation for weeks on end, hiding and fighting back when necessary.
This flashback structure serves the story well. Knowing where James ends up at the beginning of the story makes it compelling to hear how he got to where he did. Like his audience in the story, the reader is just as eager to hear how James got to where he ended up.
The story itself is action-packed and high in intensity, though it slows down when necessary in order to process James’ thoughts and feelings. It has a cinematic framework that paints a clear and frightening nightmare scenario. The stakes are heightened from the usual dystopian story given the age of our protagonist and the team that he leads.
A war story for kids
This book is aimed at young readers. However, it holds nothing back in terms of intensity and brutality. A young reader needs to be able to handle these disturbing scenarios in order to get through this story.
It pushes the envelope without going too far in terms of torture and gore. Keeping the story through James’ viewpoint, there is just enough description to get an idea of the horrors of what is going on in this world without overdoing it.
The characters
James is clearly an alpha male type, though he’s not afraid to show his vulnerable side. He’s a born leader, gravitating towards his father’s world of protection and defense. Luckily, this skillset, mixed with his natural penchant for strategy, makes for a born leader.
He’s not always the most evolved in terms of how he thinks of his mother and sister, though Emily shows how much he underestimates her. Emily takes on the mother role without disappearing into the background as domestic caretaker. She’s just as involved in the planning and execution of their attacks as her brother. But she also keeps her brother and the rest of the kids grounded and their emotional needs in check.
Topical scenarios
Patchen borrows from real life in order to craft the plot of this story. In James’ flashbacks, he recalls how the enemy took advantage of the U.S.’s racial and political divisions in order to formulate their attacks. They infiltrated from the inside out, converting born and bred Americans along with enemies outside of the country in order to execute a decades’ long plan that resulted in the bombing of everything from major cities to the rural town where James once lived with his family.
Modern day fiction typically reflects on the times in which it was written. Today’s children are seeing similar scenarios play out in the real world. So, it only makes sense to inject some realism into current dystopian fiction novels. It’s interesting, though, to read these stories no longer with the mindset that this is a far-fetched scenario but rather with the understanding that this could actually happen, and on a certain level, it has.
In either case, we always wonder where we would fall into this scenario. Would we be a victim, a survivor, or a fighter? In Sheltered, kid readers can more easily place themselves into the story, seeing characters their age living this horrific landscape. Let’s hope they never will.
An interview with Jacob Paul Patchen
Author links
Book Titles
Sheltered: When a Boy Becomes a Legend
At Daddy’s Hands: Courage Knows No Age
Words That Matter: Family
No Pistol Tastes the Same (coming soon)
Of Love and War
Life Lessons from Grandpa and His Chicken Coop: A Playful Journey Through Some Serious Sh*t
Genres
Upper MG Fiction – Action/War/Thriller
YA Fiction – Psychological Thriller/Social Issues/Suspense
Fiction – Thriller/Suspense
Children’s Picture Books
Creative Nonfiction – Humor/Social Issues/Inspirational
Poetry
Sheltered book summary
Sheltered: When a Boy Becomes a Legend: Twelve-year-old James must survive alone in his father’s bomb shelter while America is under attack. Battling a black-clad mysterious enemy, armed looters, and depleting supplies, James leaves his shelter to face his new, smoldering world. Determined to save his nation and the orphaned children he took under his wing, James and his group of battered teens, The Risers, fight back to free his hometown from the prison/death camp at Meadowbrook High School.
Book excerpt
Sheltered: When a Boy Becomes a Legend
“We are all given a space in life to fill, a roaring emptiness in time… and it’s how you choose to fill that void, that will determine the difference in becoming a man or a legend.”
That’s what my father said to me a few years ago before he walked out on Mom, Emily, and me. If I would have had any sense back then, I would have asked him exactly what that meant.
Instead, I’m out here learning it the hard way – dodging bullets and bombs while America is at war – my friends fighting back with all we have, while trying to keep these orphaned children safe and our dreams alive.
They call us The Risers. Well, okay… so we call ourselves “The Risers.” But either way, we’re out here doing everything we can just to survive and rise up from our nation’s ashes with honor, integrity, and justice.
Now, with smoky memories of a lost childhood, and the horrible, lingering, cardboard taste of MRE crackers (still left over from living in Dad’s bomb shelter), my mini army and me march forward, taking back what was once taken for granted.
But to be honest, I’m really just out here winging it. Wish me luck.
Review excerpt
“Sheltered: When a Boy Becomes a Legend by Jacob Paul Patchen is a story that rallies your spirit and lifts your soul as the children left to defend our great country step forward to fight. This well-written novel has the suspense and action of a thriller, yet it leaves you hopeful when our children are put to the test.” –Readers’ Favorite
Talking Shop
What do you want readers to take away from your books?
Well, I’ve always told people that all of my books have a purpose. I try to blend multiple social themes and moral inquiries in each book, hoping that I can somehow make an impact in a positive way–that I can somehow inspire change, goodness, and a new perspective.
Name a fact or detail about your story that readers will never know is there.
I wrote the book with the idea that James is my fictional son.
What is a fun or strange source of inspiration that ended up in your book?
Growing up in the real life setting of this fictional book, I had always imagined what I would do as kid if I woke up one day and America was under attack. Call it a wild imagination or whatever, but every time it stormed back then, I would pretend the thunder was distant bombs exploding and getting closer. Then I’d shoot the windows and doors with Nerf guns until I won the war.
How long have you considered yourself a writer? Did you have any formal training, or is it something you learned as you went?
As far back as I can remember, I had a creative streak. Some of my early journals and stories in class were…well, unusual, to say the least. But the first time I actually considered myself a “writer” was when I started writing poetry at the age of 12. Of course, back then, it was just weird emotional thoughts and ramblings of a pre-teen and teen. But hey, it led to somewhere, right?
If it wasn’t for my deployment to Iraq in 2005 as a Marine, I probably never would’ve gone to college. The only reason I actually enrolled was because I wanted to play football again. So, I walked on, tore everything in my knee the first year, realized that maybe football wasn’t my thing anymore, and then hung around long enough for them to force me to pick a major. And if it wasn’t for the English Department convincing me that English majors are awesome, who knows where I’d be today. *So that’s the long way of saying I graduated from Muskingum University with a degree in English.
What is the most fun part about writing? The most difficult?
Honestly, I think it’s the “high” I get from creating something impactful, and the response from my readers when it moves them.
Trying to find the time, energy, money, resources, and patience. And dealing with the critics, the ones who want to change “your baby,” and the ones that you failed to reach.
“What If” Scenarios
Your favorite character that you’ve written comes to life for one day. What do you do together for 24 hours?
Mischief. Absolute and udder mischief. Followed by a good deed or two and some beers.
You’re given $10,000 to spend on marketing for your book. How do you spend it?
Spend $4000 on books and use the rest to travel the country, doing speaking events and selling books.
Your book becomes a best seller. What do you do next?
Promote the next one. Create more time for writing. Spread the wealth around to family and friends. Pay off school loans and debt. Buy the whole bare a round on me.
You have the means to hire a full time assistant to help you with your writing. What tasks do you give them to do?
Submitting, marketing, promotion, contests, and keeping up with an online presence.
Your story gets picked up by a streaming service to make into a series. What service would you want it to be, and would you want them to follow your story closely, or would you rather see what directions they take it in?
Netflix seems to have a decent reputation. But they better not try to change my story. It’s mine. They’re only borrowing it.
Just for Fun
Your trademark feature.
Flannel, jeans, and boots…or athletic shorts and a cut-off.
What legacy do you want to leave behind?
That we were meant to live a meaningful life, full of love, laughter, and happiness. And we should do everything we can to make a difference.
One year of your life you’d like to relive or do over.
Can it be a decade? How about my 20’s. I mostly forget them. I mean, I know I had fun…but there was a lot of heartache and stupid decisions too.
One bucket list item you’ve completed and one that’s still on your list.
Played college football. Road trip the entire USA in a camper.
Celebrity you’d want to be friends with.
Jim Carrey
Your most unrealistic dream job.
Is no job at all – financial freedom and space to do whatever I choose.
A talent you have and a talent you wish you had.
Being creative/problem solving/helping people. I wish I could sing and play guitar.
When time travel is achieved, do you go forward or backward?
To the past to make our future better. And then to the future to see where we all ended up.
Pin it!
Loving the sounds of Sheltered! Books centered around the courage and bravery children find to move forward in an uncertain world make me smile.
Thanks for sharing!