(Don't You) Forget About Me

April 21, 2014
Gardnerville is “equal parts monstrous and miraculous,” a place where no one gets sick, where no one is allowed to leave, and where every four years, its teenagers kill themselves and others in fits of dreamlike madness. Flowers grow like weeds across the town, and the people who move there are seeking paradise: “No sickness, no disease.... These are the perks of living in Gardnerville, but they do not come for free.” Skylar Gardner is mourning the absence of her older sister, Piper, who led some of the town’s children to a watery death four years earlier and now lives in a reformatory. Skylar’s voice is alternately despairing and cynical; like nearly everyone else in town, she exists in a near-constant drug-addled state, with flower-based drugs helping calm residents’ demons. Quinn (Another Little Piece) is a gifted writer, her prose requiring perseverance and attentiveness. Understanding the rules of Gardnerville and what keeps its cycles of madness turning is like deciphering an intricate puzzle or being locked in a dream—sometimes nightmarish, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes like one long, strange hallucination. Ages 13–up.

May 1, 2014
Even paradise has its secrets.Trains bring desperate newcomers who've heard the tales of wonder. Gardnerville has no disease, and its inhabitants live well beyond 100, looking youthful all the while. But those, like Skylar, who were born and raised in the seemingly blissful town know its dark side. The land gives many gifts, like Skylar's ability to read minds, but it takes even more. Adolescence is hard in Gardnerville, turning teens mad and even into killers. With some pharmaceutical help, Skylar has tried to forget her painful past, including her older sister Piper's strange disappearance four years ago, but now it's time to remember. In this distinctive, supernatural read, Skylar's first-person narration alternates between episodic remembrances of time spent with Piper (highlighted by '80s song titles from their mother's old mix tapes) and her current struggle to find Piper and understand the mysteries of Gardnerville. Skylar's storytelling style can be slow and complex, leaving characters and romance flat. Readers with patience and curiosity about Piper's whereabouts, possible role in an uprising and folkloric connections, however, will add up the clues that lead to a startling ending.A divisive novel that will leave readers wondering "Should I Stay or Should I Go." (Fantasy. 14-18)

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June 1, 2014

Gr 8 Up-Skylar lives in a purple haze. Ever since her beloved older sister, Piper, led a group of local teenagers to their death, she's been trying to forget her life by swallowing pills. Skylar lives in Gardnerville, a creepy town where no one gets sick and everyone lives well into their second century. Well, almost everyone. Teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18 are susceptible to violence and when they snap, they're punished in the reformatory. That's what happened to Piper and that's what Skylar fears will happen to her. But Skylar is not like other Gardnerville teens. She has an inexplicable power; a power so strong that she could destroy the town, the reformatory, even herself, anything to find her sister. Readers expecting a fast-paced plot won't necessarily find it here. Rather, they'll need to take their time following Skylar's drug-induced narration in order to see how all the pieces come together. Even though readers are inside her head, it's hard to know what truly drives Skylar other than her obsession with finding out what happened to Piper. Fans of Nova Ren Suma's Imaginary Girls (Dutton, 2011) will enjoy this dark and magical surrealism.-Kimberly Garnick Giarratano, Rockaway Township Public Library, NJ

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
Grades 9-12 Skylar lives in Gardnerville, a paradise where people age slowly, don't get sick, and rarely die. Every fourth year, however, tragedy strikes in towntragedies that are usually sparked by any intense emotions in the teens of the city. Four years ago, Skylar's older sister, Piper, led half the teens in the city through town in the middle of the night to jump off a trestle bridge into the river below. Many teens drowned that night. The ones that didn't, including Piper, were hauled off to the city's Reformatory, a home for troubled children. Leaping back and forth in time, Skylar narrates chilling discoveries, sometimes speaking directly to her missing sister. When Skylar isn't searching for ways to help Piper escape the Reformatory, she takes drugs to forget about her town's tragedies and her family's role in them. Quinn's newest mystery is a complicated thriller with lots of twists, turns, and a large dose of fantasy. This title would appeal to fans of stories with odd time lines or a menacing tone.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)