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Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for the early copy!
We know by now I love a good survival story, but this one is different. Maddie is 12, and lies to her divorced parents one night - tells mom she’s with dad and vice versa, and then really spends the night at her grandparents’ empty house (they live in South Carolina half the year). That one night is colossal... while she’s sleeping, the residents of her town are loaded into transport vans and taken away. When she wakes up, she’s the only person left in her town.
The initial premise may be a little far-fetched, but the survival aspect feels very realistic. Maddie does a lot to manage to stay alive, and works hard every day to maintain a routine and keep herself and her found dog companion, George, fed and sheltered. She’s smart and level-headed and is a great protagonist for the story. She still has her moments of weakness - missing her loved ones and normal way of life is what gets to her the most. You can really see her move through the stages of grief, though, over the course of this story.
This could have been 5 stars if the ending wasn’t so rushed. It happened in the blink of an eye, really. It didn’t answer nearly enough questions and it barely let me feel anything before it was over.
It’s written in verse, sorta, which I usually don’t like, but this story is way more action forward than a lot of verse novels. She still talks about how she feels, but mostly it’s about what she’s physically doing. And the verse really just feels like a run-on sentence, free flowing thoughts.
I think tweens will really like this, it plays off the “what if my family was gone” fantasy trope that quickly goes sour and leaves kids valuing their lives a little more. But honestly I think it’s a decent survival story for any age and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
We know by now I love a good survival story, but this one is different. Maddie is 12, and lies to her divorced parents one night - tells mom she’s with dad and vice versa, and then really spends the night at her grandparents’ empty house (they live in South Carolina half the year). That one night is colossal... while she’s sleeping, the residents of her town are loaded into transport vans and taken away. When she wakes up, she’s the only person left in her town.
The initial premise may be a little far-fetched, but the survival aspect feels very realistic. Maddie does a lot to manage to stay alive, and works hard every day to maintain a routine and keep herself and her found dog companion, George, fed and sheltered. She’s smart and level-headed and is a great protagonist for the story. She still has her moments of weakness - missing her loved ones and normal way of life is what gets to her the most. You can really see her move through the stages of grief, though, over the course of this story.
This could have been 5 stars if the ending wasn’t so rushed. It happened in the blink of an eye, really. It didn’t answer nearly enough questions and it barely let me feel anything before it was over.
It’s written in verse, sorta, which I usually don’t like, but this story is way more action forward than a lot of verse novels. She still talks about how she feels, but mostly it’s about what she’s physically doing. And the verse really just feels like a run-on sentence, free flowing thoughts.
I think tweens will really like this, it plays off the “what if my family was gone” fantasy trope that quickly goes sour and leaves kids valuing their lives a little more. But honestly I think it’s a decent survival story for any age and I thoroughly enjoyed it.