The Meltdown was published by Amulet Books in 2018. A major snowstorm transforms Greg’s neighborhood into a warzone: rival factions of kids wage an increasingly intense snowball war, building fortifications, forming alliances, and betraying each other with enthusiasm. What begins as play escalates into something more serious as the conflict takes on a momentum of its own.
The novel is Kinney’s Lord of the Flies — a comic version of how quickly civilized behavior dissolves when authority is absent and competition is present.
Collecting The Meltdown
First edition (Amulet Books, New York, 2018): Hardcover with illustrated boards.
Market values:
- First edition, first printing: $15–$25
- Later printings: $5–$10
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation.
The neighbourhood snowball war is the series’ most effective social metaphor. The rapid formation of factions, the breakdown of previous friendships along territorial lines, the escalation from snowballs to ice-balls, and the eventual intervention of adults — it mirrors real-world conflict dynamics with unsettling precision. Kinney has cited the Battle of Gettysburg as a structural influence on the book’s climactic set piece.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is The Meltdown inspired by Lord of the Flies? Kinney has acknowledged the parallel. Both stories explore how children behave when adult authority is suspended. But where William Golding’s novel descends into genuine horror, Kinney keeps the tone comic — the stakes are social humiliation rather than survival, though to a middle schooler, the difference feels minimal.