Far from You

November 15, 2008
Genuine emotion balances unremarkable verse in this tale of healing. Alice is bitter over her mother 's death from cancer years ago and her father 's ongoing emotional distance. A stepmother and newborn half sister render Alice both scornful and jealous. Soon she 's estranged from church and also from her best friend, who finds Ali 's song lyrics too gloomy. Readers may simultaneously sympathize with Alice 's ceaseless grief and wish she could do more than whimper about it, but nothing shifts until the family (minus dad) is stranded in the snow. Four days in a snowbound car, first with her stepmother and then alone with tiny baby Ivy, slowly reopen Ali 's heart. The first-person verse is sometimes quite plain ( "After church / we went out / for doughnuts / and coffee "), sometimes clichd and heavy-handed like a real teen diary ( "Like the North Star, / ever present in the sky, / regret shines brightly / in my soul "). Despite the sense that Schroeder leans too heavily on line breaks for drama, the accessibility and heartache will attract many readers. (Fiction. YA)

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April 1, 2009
Gr 8 Up-Alice lost her mother to cancer years earlier. Now 16, she finds herself burdened with a stepmother and a new baby sister. Unable to accept her new life, she retreats into herself and thwarts any attempt at togetherness on the part of her family. Instead, she focuses her energy on her dog, Cobain; the music she plays at church with her best friend, Claire; and her rebel boyfriend. Fresh from an argument with Claire and confusion over whether or not to sleep with Blaze, Alice finds herself stuck at her stepmother's parents' home for Thanksgiving. When disaster strikes during a blizzard on the drive home, she is forced to take stock of herself and her family for the first time. At first, Alice's rampant use of clichés can be distracting (Claire knows her like "a druggie knows her best vein"; the first time she locked eyes with Blaze "was like a rocket blasting off into space"). However, the story is told by a teenager, and the clichés lend authenticity to the voice of an angst-ridden young woman. Schroeder weaves "Alice in Wonderland" (both Alice's namesake and her mother's favorite book) references throughout the book to echo the topsy-turvy nature of her protagonist's life. It is this roller coaster of emotions to which many teen readers will relate. A quick, yet satisfying, novel in verse."Jill Heritage Maza, Greenwich High School, CT"

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