I think Fallout is an excellent story for ages eight to twelve. It does have a few bad words in it, but not enough that it would make you put the book down and stop reading. I think Todd Strasser did a proficient job on ending the book; with the exception that he never says what happens to one character in particular and I think he should have. The main character is a boy named Scott. Todd Strasser did a superior job on making people believe the characters to be real. The book’s chapters are set in a way so that one is about what it is like in the shelter and the next one would be about Scott’s life before the shelter. The author explained what radiation bombs are like. It made me realize how awful it would have been if a bomb had really been dropped. I learned a little more about the Cold War from this book. I recommend you read this book.