Life as we knew it

In my quest to make my next book absolutely as fantastic as possible, in addition to extensive historical research I've been reading mg/ya novels written in journal/diary form. Magdelena (my mc's name!) will begin her diary as she journeys across the Atlantic to her new home in America. Anyway, I've just finished reading a very well-written and (only MY opinion here folks) extremely depressing novel, Life as we knew it, by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

In a nutshell, an asteroid hits the moon, knocking it out of whack, causing very great and severe disturbances on the earth, obviously. Sixteen year old Miranda is suddenly thrown into dealing with cataclysmic problems. Written as Miranda's journal personalizes the difficult situations and carries the reader through all the disasters so intimately I needed to stop reading several times and take a walk outside just to bring myself back to reality. Surely that is the sign of a great writer!