Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer

The epidemic strikes only those who have passed through puberty.

Abby Leigh is looking forward to watching the moon turn purple. For months, astronomers have been predicting that Earth will pass through the tail of a comet. They say that people will see colorful sunsets and, best of all, a purple moon.

But nobody has predicted the lightning-fast epidemic that sweeps across the planet on the night of the purple moon. The comet brings space dust with it that contains germs that attack human hormones. Older teens and adults die within hours of exposure.

On a small island off the coast of Maine, Abby must help her brother and baby sister survive in this new world, but all the while she has a ticking time bomb inside of her -- adolescence

The world is full of excitement as the astronomers have predicted that the Earth will pass through the tail of a comet and turn the moon purple. It becomes an event that families have been planning weeks for. But who would predict that the fumes from the space dust would have a tragic effect on all adults, death.

When Abby wakes up to the sound of a car accident out on the street, she notices the weird dust that has consumed the air outside. Their parents have gone missing and the neighbor has come over to announce that his parents are dead. It doesn't take too long before Abby and her brother find out that all adults are dead. They are on their own.

Although they have telephones and eventually internet, staying on the Island is not the answer. They gather as many kids on the Island together as possible and start coming up with plans. You can't just sit still, there has to be a cure...right?

The book handles some pretty desperate situations, involving young kids. In a very clean and not to descriptive way that younger readers would be able to read the story and understand the events as they happen.

The story really focuses on Abby's family. They decide to find the other kids on the Island, to keep them all together. And then eventually search out how to find a cure.