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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
adventurous
hopeful
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
As someone who devoured Alone in a single sitting, I was thrilled to learn that Megan Freeman was coming out with a companion novel from the POV of kids in one of the evacuation camps. And I was not disappointed.
Told in alternating POV, each written in a different style to best fit the character themselves, Away is slightly less gripping and stressful than Alone but equally enjoyable. My favorite part of the entire thing was actually the writing style because I felt the differing forms of prose really added to each character and the way you got to know them.
Both Alone and Away have firmly found themselves in my frequent recommendations cycle, and I cannot wait to see if we see more middle grade from Megan, because I want to read it all.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Childrens for the eARC!
Told in alternating POV, each written in a different style to best fit the character themselves, Away is slightly less gripping and stressful than Alone but equally enjoyable. My favorite part of the entire thing was actually the writing style because I felt the differing forms of prose really added to each character and the way you got to know them.
Both Alone and Away have firmly found themselves in my frequent recommendations cycle, and I cannot wait to see if we see more middle grade from Megan, because I want to read it all.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Childrens for the eARC!
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Great middle great companion novel to Freeman's Alone. In Alone, Maddie is left behind when her home is mysteriously evacuated in the night. This is the story of the evacuation and the children who won't give up until they uncover the answers. Toggling between each of their voices, the story unfolds in a variety of formats depending on who is speaking, verse, screenplay, news articles and letters.
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
How much attention should we pay to rumors? How do we know what's a solid lead? Which theories should we investigate?
Or maybe the story is the rumors: how people invent information in the absence of facts. That could be an interesting theme.
Bottom line: Are we telling a story about the evacuations? Or are we trying to discover the cause of the imminent threat?
Away is a companion to the breakout novel-in-verse, Alone, by Megan E. Freeman. The biggest complaint I've heard about that book is: What happened? Why did everyone disappear? Well, after many years, we finally have our answer. This book easily falls in the realm of dystopian, making this a closer to home story than many of the dystopian novels that have dominated middle grade and young adult lit in the last several years. I can see why many adults aren't a fan of this book (pacing, believability) but the truth is, the book isn't written for us. It's written for younger readers who will blindly accept the unlikelihood of the events of this book and trust that young people can, in fact, change the world.
Things I Liked:
- I really liked the different perspectives this book took on. We follow four distinct voices:
1. Grandin, a farmboy who wonders what happened to his dad when he disappeared on evacuation day.
2. Ashanti, a driven girl who wants to one day become a doctor, loves Greek mythology, and was friends with Maddie, the protagonist from Alone
3. Teddy, an aspiring film maker, who sees everything through a camera lens
4. Harmony, a journalist who wants to do nothing more than tell the truth through writing
It helped that each of these characters was very unique but also that each of their perspectives was written differently. While I listened to this book and experienced a full cast, I also think readers will be able to differentiate between the characters based on the mixed-media format of this novel. - I was convinced aliens had something to do with the forced evacuations. Why? No idea. There was absolutely nothing to make me think that but nevertheless, I was convinced. I'm both thrilled and terrified that the real reason had nothing to do with aliens (it was a long shot, anyway) because the real reason hit that much closer to home.
- I liked the little nods to Maddie, from Alone. I do wish we could have seen what happened to her after the events of that book.
- I loved Popcorn and Pax. What great little secondary characters.
- These kids are innovative, resilient, and resourceful. Let's pass some of those characteristics on to our real life kiddos because goodness knows they need something to motivate them.
Things That Didn't Work for Me:
- I hate epilogues that are set so far in the future and skip right over any challenges making it seem that once the book's very conflict is resolved, everything works out perfectly. How did this book end? This way. Hated it.
- I think the readers of this book and Alone deserve to know what happens next. How do these communities rebuild? What does that look like? While this certainly isn't required, I know I want to know and I think enough young readers have grown attached to this world they would also appreciate knowing what comes immediately after the events of this book.
- As an adult reader, I saw some major flaws in how people were being diverted from their homes. Surely people in other states or family at least would be wondering why they can't contact their family members for several years? With no technology and apparently no snail mail, it seems these people were truly wiped from the face of the earth one day and no one knew what happened. Young readers, who this book is for, aren't going to think through the logistics of all of this, so for the purpose of this novel, I was able to suspend disbelief for some of those more adult questions and allow the book to just be the way it was written.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The companion novel that I didn’t know Alone needed. From the perspective of 4 very different kids who were not left behind, but made to participate in the large scale evacuation of Colorado. They all quickly become weary of their new forced reality and begin to seek the truth that they suspect is being hidden.
I love that I could anticipate parts of this book from reading Alone, but how the story unfolded was a treat of twists and turns and creative problem solving that had me impressed by the characters and thus also by the writing. The multiple POVs and their very different voices (literally if you listen to the full cast audio!) lended itself to telling such a well rounded story that flowed quickly and swept me along on a happy ride from beginning to end.
Thanks to Simon Audio and Simon Teen for a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
I love that I could anticipate parts of this book from reading Alone, but how the story unfolded was a treat of twists and turns and creative problem solving that had me impressed by the characters and thus also by the writing. The multiple POVs and their very different voices (literally if you listen to the full cast audio!) lended itself to telling such a well rounded story that flowed quickly and swept me along on a happy ride from beginning to end.
Thanks to Simon Audio and Simon Teen for a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Violence
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes