The adults don't get ill, they simply disappear in [[Gone by Michael Grant]], which also has undertones of ''Lord of the Flies''. An eco-catastrophe has drowned most of the population in [[X-isle by Steve Augarde]]. And children are left alone after another environmental disaster in [[The Rule of Claw by John Brindley]]. There's a lot of it about! Deep-thinking children will love the world created by Patrick Ness in [[The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness|The Knife of Never Letting Go]].