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story identification - Novel where a meteor is about to destroy earth?



I read this book about ten years ago, I unfortunately don't remember much about the general plot but I do remember some odd specific details. Firstly, although it was definitely a stand-alone book, I read it in a collection titled something along the lines of "Exciting Stories for Boys". I think the first Guardians of Ga'Hoole book was included in this collection but I might be wrong.


The book itself was a YA story about a high school boy who lived on earth shortly before it got struck by a meteor; a lot of the book was him going about normal high school business, but at some point he learns that the world is going to end and only a certain number of important people and their families got to board a ship to another planet (his dad was a VIP for some reason I think). I remember that when he boards, there was a child on the ship who wanted to bring a teddy bear, but wasn't allowed to because they didn't have room. Eventually, they put some tubes in the protagonist to put him in some sort of cryo, and then the book ends giving us a depressing description of most of the characters we met during the book dying to a meteor impact (including the main character's crush who we saw a lot of).


I know this isn't a lot to go off of, but I believe the book was relatively popular and had some sequels (though I didn't read any).




Answer



You're looking for The Mayflower Project by K.A. Applegate, first book of the Remnants series, collected in Fantastic Tales for Boys, which indeed included The Capture as well as Dragon's Nest, first book of the Dragons of Deltora series.


Fantastic Tales for Boys - Book Cover



The end of the world. Not something most people think about. Not something we even expect to ever really happen. But what if you found out an asteroid the size of New Jersey were about to collide with the earth? What would you do? It's the year 2011, and that's the question Jobs is asking himself. The question he asked his family. He certainly didn't expect the answer he got. Didn't expect that in a very short time he and his family would be some of the lucky few selected to board a revamped space shuttle... A shuttle that would leave Earth just before the asteroid destroys it. But there are a couple of catches: The shuttle has no ultimate destination; and all those aboard will be placed in a state of suspended animation---indefinitely. Or at least until the computers find a habitable planet for them to live.



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