The+Everafter

The Everafter by Amy Huntley Fantasy, paranormal 2009 SLJ gr 8+ Recommended by Barrington Middle School

[|Link] to NHU PAC entry

Comments:

This was recommended to the 2010-2011 list but was cut. - Yvette/Merrimack

Does anyone remember why it was cut? If we cut it once, what would be the reason to add it this year? Was it only cut due to numbers? Dee/CMS

I think we had two books on the list that year that were similar...I can check my notes and see if I have the original list we were reading through... Update: yes, it was cut because the Committee preferred If I Stay by Forman that same year. I reread Everafter this weekend and it does move at a leisurely pace. It didn't seem that the stakes were high enough - Maddy is floating in a nebulous after-life limbo and when she comes across objects that she's lost in her life she is transported to that moment in her life with the option to relive or to observe it - so the reader slowly witnesses the events of her life as Maddy tries to understand the point of it all. However, her death is a random accident; her readiness to move on to the Everafter seems sudden after such a slow examination of objects/events. I think I'd prefer that teens understand that their actions do have impact and meaning rather than being random and powerless. It would have also been nice to see more of Sandra's relationship with her mother, even a few more clues; there was no evidence of what I would have thought was abuse in the household and that whole family situation was kind of glossed over. Maybe this light existential touch overall might be why we chose If I Stay over The Everafter several years ago. I'd pass again. Yvette/Merrimack