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Eventown
The world tilted for Elodee this year, and now it’s impossible for her to be the same as she was before. Not when her feelings have such a strong grip on her heart. Not when she and her twin sister, Naomi, seem to be drifting apart. So when Elodee’s mom gets a new job in Eventown, moving seems like it might just fix everything.
Indeed, life in Eventown is comforting and exciting all at once. Their kitchen comes with a box of recipes for Elodee to try. Everyone takes the scenic way to school or work—past rows of rosebushes and unexpected waterfalls. On blueberry-picking field trips, every berry is perfectly ripe.
Sure, there are a few odd rules, and the houses all look exactly alike, but it’s easy enough to explain—until Elodee realizes that there are only three ice cream flavors in Eventown. Ever. And they play only one song in music class.
Everything may be “even” in Eventown, but is there a price to pay for perfection—and pretending?
Indeed, life in Eventown is comforting and exciting all at once. Their kitchen comes with a box of recipes for Elodee to try. Everyone takes the scenic way to school or work—past rows of rosebushes and unexpected waterfalls. On blueberry-picking field trips, every berry is perfectly ripe.
Sure, there are a few odd rules, and the houses all look exactly alike, but it’s easy enough to explain—until Elodee realizes that there are only three ice cream flavors in Eventown. Ever. And they play only one song in music class.
Everything may be “even” in Eventown, but is there a price to pay for perfection—and pretending?
328 pages, Hardcover
First published February 12, 2019
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January 16, 2019
Every year various dictionaries and encyclopedias try to determine what the Word of the Year is, and every year they make some pretty good choices. Here’s one that I don’t think they’ve done yet, but that’s been on a lot of minds anyway: Discomfort. There’s been a lot of talk about it lately, particularly in terms of the value of uncomfortable/valuable conversations. I am, personally, a person who tends to avoid discomfort at all costs, and my privilege is that I can too often do so. Only because I live in this age and this era of America can I see where avoiding the messiness of living in this world is potentially dangerous, not to mention irresponsible. So, to the year 2019, I hand this middle grade novel. In Eventown by Corey Ann Haydu, you’ll find a marvelous defense of messiness, mistakes, and uncomfortable conversations. We all want to run away from our problems, but it’s like that old phrase says: Be careful what you wish for.
It happened in the past. It hurt. Now Elodee’s family is in pain. Her father, her mother, her twin sister Naomi, and Elodee herself all feel burdened by something that they can’t even talk about anymore. So when Elodee and Naomi’s mom gets a job working for the village of Eventown, they simply cannot believe their luck. Eventown’s the kind of place where you can get a fresh start. It’s where the neighbors all get together to make you a recipe box of delicious things you couldn’t burn or ruin if you tried. Where the kids in school never tease you. Where the sunsets are miraculous and the stars, if it’s at all possible, shine brighter than anywhere you’ve ever been. At first Elodee is swept up in the joy of living in such a place, but as time goes on she begins to see oddities. Why does her yard have weeds when no one else’s does? Why do the other kids act so aghast when she tries a different s’mores recipe? And why, oh why, can’t Elodee just give in to the place and be happy here? It takes a lot to live in Eventown, so what Elodee needs to determine is whether or not it’s worth it in the end.
Childhood utopias automatically come outfitted with built-in weirdness. It’s part of the deal. Hogwarts had a snake in the basement. Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory had a peculiar tendency to knock off small visitors. You get the drift. These locations have a natural fantasy component that taps into a child’s ultimate desire (magic, chocolate, etc.). Less common is the idea of a perfect town. Even so, it’s there. When I was a kid I’d write short stories about a little town where I could make up all the families and characters. There was a comfort to it. Think of what Harriet M. Welch is doing in at the beginning of Harriet the Spy. And I think Haydu’s being very clever with this book because what’s truly fearful about Eventown is its seductiveness. Remember that line in the musical Into the Woods that Little Red Riding Hood sings about the wolf? “Nice is different than good.” Going to Eventown is like a crash course in nice vs. good. And the problem with nice, as a whole bunch of us know, is that it can be weaponized in the fight against truth.
Reading the book I was intrigued by how the creepy elements of the tale sneak in at a glacial rate. So much so that I found myself silently chanting, “Come on other shoe … drop, man, drop. Drop, man, drop!” Drop it does, but in slow motion. Need a novel for 9-12 year olds that epitomizes the very definition of “foreshadowing”? Meet my little friend here. It knows that some of the most effective horror comes from the people we love the most. Elodee’s whole family has drunk the Eventown Kool-Aid without so much as a blink, but she doesn’t see that for a long time. Instead, she has to encounter what I consider one of the most frightening concepts of all time. Loving, patient kindness combined with insane actions, resulting in the kind of villainy I’ve never really seen in a children’s book before. The adults in this town aren’t passive aggressive so much as they’re completely dedicated to horrible inanities. Let’s put it this way: You can’t help but like a book where the foreshadowing centers around a town’s lack of library. Or, even better, the horror of what it becomes. Honestly, not since The Great Gatsby has a library been as much of a lie as the one found here. What happens to the town library will strike many kids as an unspeakable crime. It’s a very clever means of turning kids against the notion of comfort and stability at any cost.
As I read, I kept finding natural connections to this book. Certainly in terms of cinema this book is pure Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Pleasantville. In terms of children’s books the tie-in is Orphan Island (more on that later). I was even reminded of that moment in A Wrinkle in Time where Meg confronts It and must parse the difference between equal and the same. But when I really sat down and thought about it, the best equivalent to this, in a lot of ways, is Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World. It might as well be Elodee saying “I'd rather be myself . . . Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.” Or, “If one's different, one's bound to be lonely.” And, ultimately, the perfect quote for it all: “Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.” Huxley said it first, but it’s nice to have something on a younger level for the kids. Eventown is the perfect gateway drug for “Brave New World” later on.
I mean, this might be an out there idea, but is it possible that this book is a metaphor for what it feels like to have depression? Elodee is constantly having to defend herself against the accusation of not trying to be happy. Her sister says, “You’re making something easy so hard.” Here’s how Elodee thinks of it instead, “There’s a grip in my heart, and Naomi’s right here but she feels a million miles away, on a whole other planet, and she gets to be there with Mom and Dad and I’m stuck here, on my weird little planet all alone. I want to explain all of that to her, but every time I try to explain what is making me feel unsettled or weird, all I do is get further and further away.” When her sister tries to cheer her up (with guilt, which in my experience always works so very very well) it says, “… I try to make Naomi grinning at me enough to make me grin too. I am trying so, so hard.” All throughout the book Elodee has to deal with a world where she feels like she’s the only one who has to try this hard. It’s a deeply lonely experience, and I couldn’t help but think of people with depression who have to deal with concerned friends and family members who say unhelpful things like, “Why don’t you just get over yourself?” and “Why don’t you want to be happy?” Like Elodee says, they try so, so hard, but often that’s not the issue. The real issue is deep and buried. In the case of this book, literally so.
Again, the book that I kept thinking about the most as I read this was Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder. In both cases you have a mysterious location, otherworldly occurrences, and a girl on the cusp of teenagerhood with whom the world does not sit well. Both live in kinds of utopias. There the similarities stop, though. In Orphan Island things start to go wrong because the heroine questions the way things are, and that’s a bad thing. In Eventown things start to go wrong because the heroine questions the way things are, and that’s a good thing. In both books she dares to question the world. In only one book does that choice go well. Why do these books ring oddly true with kids? Because in the real world, adults withhold pertinent information from their children all the time. This is not necessarily a bad thing since there are many things in this world that kids just aren’t ready to know. I guess the root of it is, to a certain extent, intent. Are you keeping kids in the dark because it protects them or because it protects you?
I wouldn’t think of this, any of this if it weren’t for Haydu putting it all together so well. There’s a patience to her writing. She must have had so much fun thinking up exactly how much fun to make Eventown. The different flavors of ice cream, the delicious green strawberries, the waterfalls, the gigantic blueberries, the butterfly house, the copper cooking equipment, all of it. Her book burns slow, but once things start getting weird it speeds up considerably, like weeds spreading in the night. I liked a lot of how she chose to phrase things, like when Elodee thinks of herself as, “…a tiny, cozy, ball of limbs.” Or when the dad says, “Love has a lot to do with imperfections,” which may as well be the theme of the book itself. The only part of the book that didn’t quite gel with me came at the end. I liked where the book went, but (and this is a funny thing to say) it felt too tidy. Not messy enough. There was satisfaction there, but I think it needed just a hair more of a conclusion. There’s a big discovery, words are said, words are listened to, and then we’re outta here!! The mom, especially, does a turnaround that didn’t feel real to me. I needed a little more thought there. Kids would probably not agree.
Years ago there was an episode of the Radiolab podcast about a moment in history when a scientist truly believed he might have found a way to remove select memories from people’s brains. The scientist was then flooded with desperate requests from people around the world. These people were begging him to remove the pain of the past from their brains. This connects, for me, to the moment in this book when it starts to rain. When that happens, some of the neighbors go out of their way to express pure fury at Elodee’s family. It’s very much a case of them essentially saying, “Your discomfort is reminding me of my discomfort.” We want so very much to find ourselves a blank slate of some sort. No bad past, no fearful future. And kids, the age of the readers of this book, already have a sense of this. Some of this book’s readers will have encountered fearful, horrible, terrible things in their pasts. Some of them will encounter these things in their futures. And a bunch of them will look at Eventown, even with all its flaws, and want to go there in the same way that kids have wanted to go to Hogwarts for years. There is no Eventown. Not even Eventown is Eventown. I won’t tell you that’s good or bad. You’re just going to have to read this book and decide for yourself.
For ages 9-12.
It happened in the past. It hurt. Now Elodee’s family is in pain. Her father, her mother, her twin sister Naomi, and Elodee herself all feel burdened by something that they can’t even talk about anymore. So when Elodee and Naomi’s mom gets a job working for the village of Eventown, they simply cannot believe their luck. Eventown’s the kind of place where you can get a fresh start. It’s where the neighbors all get together to make you a recipe box of delicious things you couldn’t burn or ruin if you tried. Where the kids in school never tease you. Where the sunsets are miraculous and the stars, if it’s at all possible, shine brighter than anywhere you’ve ever been. At first Elodee is swept up in the joy of living in such a place, but as time goes on she begins to see oddities. Why does her yard have weeds when no one else’s does? Why do the other kids act so aghast when she tries a different s’mores recipe? And why, oh why, can’t Elodee just give in to the place and be happy here? It takes a lot to live in Eventown, so what Elodee needs to determine is whether or not it’s worth it in the end.
Childhood utopias automatically come outfitted with built-in weirdness. It’s part of the deal. Hogwarts had a snake in the basement. Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory had a peculiar tendency to knock off small visitors. You get the drift. These locations have a natural fantasy component that taps into a child’s ultimate desire (magic, chocolate, etc.). Less common is the idea of a perfect town. Even so, it’s there. When I was a kid I’d write short stories about a little town where I could make up all the families and characters. There was a comfort to it. Think of what Harriet M. Welch is doing in at the beginning of Harriet the Spy. And I think Haydu’s being very clever with this book because what’s truly fearful about Eventown is its seductiveness. Remember that line in the musical Into the Woods that Little Red Riding Hood sings about the wolf? “Nice is different than good.” Going to Eventown is like a crash course in nice vs. good. And the problem with nice, as a whole bunch of us know, is that it can be weaponized in the fight against truth.
Reading the book I was intrigued by how the creepy elements of the tale sneak in at a glacial rate. So much so that I found myself silently chanting, “Come on other shoe … drop, man, drop. Drop, man, drop!” Drop it does, but in slow motion. Need a novel for 9-12 year olds that epitomizes the very definition of “foreshadowing”? Meet my little friend here. It knows that some of the most effective horror comes from the people we love the most. Elodee’s whole family has drunk the Eventown Kool-Aid without so much as a blink, but she doesn’t see that for a long time. Instead, she has to encounter what I consider one of the most frightening concepts of all time. Loving, patient kindness combined with insane actions, resulting in the kind of villainy I’ve never really seen in a children’s book before. The adults in this town aren’t passive aggressive so much as they’re completely dedicated to horrible inanities. Let’s put it this way: You can’t help but like a book where the foreshadowing centers around a town’s lack of library. Or, even better, the horror of what it becomes. Honestly, not since The Great Gatsby has a library been as much of a lie as the one found here. What happens to the town library will strike many kids as an unspeakable crime. It’s a very clever means of turning kids against the notion of comfort and stability at any cost.
As I read, I kept finding natural connections to this book. Certainly in terms of cinema this book is pure Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Pleasantville. In terms of children’s books the tie-in is Orphan Island (more on that later). I was even reminded of that moment in A Wrinkle in Time where Meg confronts It and must parse the difference between equal and the same. But when I really sat down and thought about it, the best equivalent to this, in a lot of ways, is Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World. It might as well be Elodee saying “I'd rather be myself . . . Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.” Or, “If one's different, one's bound to be lonely.” And, ultimately, the perfect quote for it all: “Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.” Huxley said it first, but it’s nice to have something on a younger level for the kids. Eventown is the perfect gateway drug for “Brave New World” later on.
I mean, this might be an out there idea, but is it possible that this book is a metaphor for what it feels like to have depression? Elodee is constantly having to defend herself against the accusation of not trying to be happy. Her sister says, “You’re making something easy so hard.” Here’s how Elodee thinks of it instead, “There’s a grip in my heart, and Naomi’s right here but she feels a million miles away, on a whole other planet, and she gets to be there with Mom and Dad and I’m stuck here, on my weird little planet all alone. I want to explain all of that to her, but every time I try to explain what is making me feel unsettled or weird, all I do is get further and further away.” When her sister tries to cheer her up (with guilt, which in my experience always works so very very well) it says, “… I try to make Naomi grinning at me enough to make me grin too. I am trying so, so hard.” All throughout the book Elodee has to deal with a world where she feels like she’s the only one who has to try this hard. It’s a deeply lonely experience, and I couldn’t help but think of people with depression who have to deal with concerned friends and family members who say unhelpful things like, “Why don’t you just get over yourself?” and “Why don’t you want to be happy?” Like Elodee says, they try so, so hard, but often that’s not the issue. The real issue is deep and buried. In the case of this book, literally so.
Again, the book that I kept thinking about the most as I read this was Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder. In both cases you have a mysterious location, otherworldly occurrences, and a girl on the cusp of teenagerhood with whom the world does not sit well. Both live in kinds of utopias. There the similarities stop, though. In Orphan Island things start to go wrong because the heroine questions the way things are, and that’s a bad thing. In Eventown things start to go wrong because the heroine questions the way things are, and that’s a good thing. In both books she dares to question the world. In only one book does that choice go well. Why do these books ring oddly true with kids? Because in the real world, adults withhold pertinent information from their children all the time. This is not necessarily a bad thing since there are many things in this world that kids just aren’t ready to know. I guess the root of it is, to a certain extent, intent. Are you keeping kids in the dark because it protects them or because it protects you?
I wouldn’t think of this, any of this if it weren’t for Haydu putting it all together so well. There’s a patience to her writing. She must have had so much fun thinking up exactly how much fun to make Eventown. The different flavors of ice cream, the delicious green strawberries, the waterfalls, the gigantic blueberries, the butterfly house, the copper cooking equipment, all of it. Her book burns slow, but once things start getting weird it speeds up considerably, like weeds spreading in the night. I liked a lot of how she chose to phrase things, like when Elodee thinks of herself as, “…a tiny, cozy, ball of limbs.” Or when the dad says, “Love has a lot to do with imperfections,” which may as well be the theme of the book itself. The only part of the book that didn’t quite gel with me came at the end. I liked where the book went, but (and this is a funny thing to say) it felt too tidy. Not messy enough. There was satisfaction there, but I think it needed just a hair more of a conclusion. There’s a big discovery, words are said, words are listened to, and then we’re outta here!! The mom, especially, does a turnaround that didn’t feel real to me. I needed a little more thought there. Kids would probably not agree.
Years ago there was an episode of the Radiolab podcast about a moment in history when a scientist truly believed he might have found a way to remove select memories from people’s brains. The scientist was then flooded with desperate requests from people around the world. These people were begging him to remove the pain of the past from their brains. This connects, for me, to the moment in this book when it starts to rain. When that happens, some of the neighbors go out of their way to express pure fury at Elodee’s family. It’s very much a case of them essentially saying, “Your discomfort is reminding me of my discomfort.” We want so very much to find ourselves a blank slate of some sort. No bad past, no fearful future. And kids, the age of the readers of this book, already have a sense of this. Some of this book’s readers will have encountered fearful, horrible, terrible things in their pasts. Some of them will encounter these things in their futures. And a bunch of them will look at Eventown, even with all its flaws, and want to go there in the same way that kids have wanted to go to Hogwarts for years. There is no Eventown. Not even Eventown is Eventown. I won’t tell you that’s good or bad. You’re just going to have to read this book and decide for yourself.
For ages 9-12.
March 20, 2019
I'm not a huge elementary reader, but I absolutely LOVED Corey Haydu's EVENTOWN. It starts as a typical upper elementary read, so its hidden depths prove all the more profound.
Tragedy devastates our main character Elodee’s family, so when Elodee’s mom gets a new job; moving seems like it’ll fix everything. Welcome to Eventown. A place where all the houses look the same, the air always smells like roses, and blueberries grow year round. Where everything seems like the perfect summer day. At least on the surface. A dark secret lurks beneath the vine-covered homes. Every person who moves to Eventown has a session at the “Welcoming Center.” After telling your stories—including the scariest & most embarrassing--your memories are locked away. Never to be recalled. But would you sacrifice your memories if it meant you could forget the most painful parts of your life? What’s the price for perfection?
From the description, you can tell EVENTOWN is basically a junior Stepford Wives. On steroids. The beginning is a little choppy, but as Elodee's family enters EVENTOWN the story quickly picks up pace. Like Stepford or its many counterparts, Elodee is initially infatuated by the town's seeming perfection. But soon she notices something amiss beneath EVENTOWN's impeccable exterior. Why are there only three flavors of ice cream? Why is the library entirely filled with blank books?
As with most elementary books, the writing is simple. However the plot isn't. The unnamed tragedy isn't revealed until the very end and lemme tell you, it'll leave you SOBBING. Seriously, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is child's play compared to EVENTOWN. Even writing this review makes me a little teary.
As a side-plot Elodee and her twin sister, Naomi, growing apart is nicely explored. Their differing attitudes toward Eventown is a great metaphor for their developing separation. As you come-of-age, you may be different from your twin (or friends) and that's okay.
Summary: A must-read
Tragedy devastates our main character Elodee’s family, so when Elodee’s mom gets a new job; moving seems like it’ll fix everything. Welcome to Eventown. A place where all the houses look the same, the air always smells like roses, and blueberries grow year round. Where everything seems like the perfect summer day. At least on the surface. A dark secret lurks beneath the vine-covered homes. Every person who moves to Eventown has a session at the “Welcoming Center.” After telling your stories—including the scariest & most embarrassing--your memories are locked away. Never to be recalled. But would you sacrifice your memories if it meant you could forget the most painful parts of your life? What’s the price for perfection?
From the description, you can tell EVENTOWN is basically a junior Stepford Wives. On steroids. The beginning is a little choppy, but as Elodee's family enters EVENTOWN the story quickly picks up pace. Like Stepford or its many counterparts, Elodee is initially infatuated by the town's seeming perfection. But soon she notices something amiss beneath EVENTOWN's impeccable exterior. Why are there only three flavors of ice cream? Why is the library entirely filled with blank books?
As with most elementary books, the writing is simple. However the plot isn't. The unnamed tragedy isn't revealed until the very end and lemme tell you, it'll leave you SOBBING. Seriously, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is child's play compared to EVENTOWN. Even writing this review makes me a little teary.
As a side-plot Elodee and her twin sister, Naomi, growing apart is nicely explored. Their differing attitudes toward Eventown is a great metaphor for their developing separation. As you come-of-age, you may be different from your twin (or friends) and that's okay.
Summary: A must-read
February 13, 2019
With a blurb from Rebecca Stead, Eventown was a highly anticipated book for me. However, I found it too slow-paced for its climax, which hinges on a reveal of information that is only hidden because of narrative manipulation.
Eventown is narrated by Elodee, a sixth-grader who bakes cookies for people based on their personalities. She has a twin sister, Naomi, who likes gymnastics so much she does cartwheels almost as much as she walks. They have a dad who likes to garden and a mom who... not quite sure what she does.
The family is leaving their town of Juniper because of some sort of unspoken trauma. Elodee, the narrator, knows what happened to her family, she just decides not to tell the reader about it. The family decides to move to Eventown, a homogenous community that I wanted to be more Eerie, Indiana but is really more like Pleasantville but boring. Everyone is happy in Eventown, and you know that because every single chapter for half the books ends with how perfect Eventown is.
Almost halfway through, the girls are "welcomed" in a ceremony that's part The Giver but mostly Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Elodee then forgets the unspoken family trauma. With the trauma going unspoken and finally, the trauma is revealed. It's exactly what you think it is. Then there's cake. The end.
Haydu has a gift for vivid descriptions, and I did appreciate Elodee as a character with anger-management issues, but I didn't feel there was enough meaty content in this book to sustain it for 300+ pages when I could read only the first and last sentence of each chapter and understand exactly what was going on.
Also, my copy of the book has a huge typo in which Chapter 2 is titled "The Only Pretty Thing in Jupiter" but the town is called Juniper making me think my dyslexia flared up.
Eventown is narrated by Elodee, a sixth-grader who bakes cookies for people based on their personalities. She has a twin sister, Naomi, who likes gymnastics so much she does cartwheels almost as much as she walks. They have a dad who likes to garden and a mom who... not quite sure what she does.
The family is leaving their town of Juniper because of some sort of unspoken trauma. Elodee, the narrator, knows what happened to her family, she just decides not to tell the reader about it. The family decides to move to Eventown, a homogenous community that I wanted to be more Eerie, Indiana but is really more like Pleasantville but boring. Everyone is happy in Eventown, and you know that because every single chapter for half the books ends with how perfect Eventown is.
Almost halfway through, the girls are "welcomed" in a ceremony that's part The Giver but mostly Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Elodee then forgets the unspoken family trauma. With the trauma going unspoken and finally, the trauma is revealed. It's exactly what you think it is. Then there's cake. The end.
Haydu has a gift for vivid descriptions, and I did appreciate Elodee as a character with anger-management issues, but I didn't feel there was enough meaty content in this book to sustain it for 300+ pages when I could read only the first and last sentence of each chapter and understand exactly what was going on.
Also, my copy of the book has a huge typo in which Chapter 2 is titled "The Only Pretty Thing in Jupiter" but the town is called Juniper making me think my dyslexia flared up.
April 17, 2022
I love this book for its intriguing cover and review by Rebecca Stead.
Its truth about family and sisters and sorrow, and its truth about family and sisters growing apart because of sorrow. (Dad’s sighs were particularly accurate.)
Its portrayal of an easy world perfect for a fresh start.
Baking and blueberries and ice cream and s’mores and faded freckles and a rose but that would not be tamed.
A slow reveal of what the tragedy was and how the eerily idyllic Eventown worked.
Sparks.
Just a note, there was one blasphemy and mentions of hard things including Also, one side character has lesbian parents who figure highly into the last quarter of the book.
Altogether, this was a surprisingly profound read.
If you need me, I’ll be out in the rain eating olive-oil jasmine cake with white chocolate pear frosting. <3
Its truth about family and sisters and sorrow, and its truth about family and sisters growing apart because of sorrow. (Dad’s sighs were particularly accurate.)
Its portrayal of an easy world perfect for a fresh start.
Baking and blueberries and ice cream and s’mores and faded freckles and a rose but that would not be tamed.
A slow reveal of what the tragedy was and how the eerily idyllic Eventown worked.
Sparks.
Just a note, there was one blasphemy and mentions of hard things including Also, one side character has lesbian parents who figure highly into the last quarter of the book.
Altogether, this was a surprisingly profound read.
If you need me, I’ll be out in the rain eating olive-oil jasmine cake with white chocolate pear frosting. <3
May 6, 2020
Think Stepford Wives for middle graders and you have EVENTOWN.
Identical twins Elodee and Naomi are uprooted to the seemingly idyllic hamlet of EVENTOWN. Narrator Elodee soon realizes that all the houses are the same, down to the number of flowers in the gardens. It never rains in EVENTOWN, in fact, everything is downright perfect. Except that it isn’t. Upon moving to the town, memories are erased, even good ones. But Elodee holds on to important ones and she may just save herself and everyone else.
I grew up on the original Stepford Wives (the only real version IMHO) based on Ira Levin’s (or Rosemary’s Baby fame, again only the original is the read version) novel, which spawned a few unequal sequels that could never spark the same magic. In Stepford, men wanted perfect robotic wife’s and replaced their brains with computers.
EVENTOWN’s creators had more benevolent motivations, to heal from traumatic memories. Residents’ brains aren’t replaced, but their memories are erased. Naomi seems to relish life in EVENTOWN while Elodee, the more inquisitive and argumentative twin, struggles to hold on.
I’m a sucker for all twin books, fact or fiction. Elodee and Naomi had enough similarities and differences to feel authentic. My only criticism is that Corey Ann Haydu took too long to get to the meat of the story, which at times moves too slowly.
EVENTOWN is a fun MG novel.
Identical twins Elodee and Naomi are uprooted to the seemingly idyllic hamlet of EVENTOWN. Narrator Elodee soon realizes that all the houses are the same, down to the number of flowers in the gardens. It never rains in EVENTOWN, in fact, everything is downright perfect. Except that it isn’t. Upon moving to the town, memories are erased, even good ones. But Elodee holds on to important ones and she may just save herself and everyone else.
I grew up on the original Stepford Wives (the only real version IMHO) based on Ira Levin’s (or Rosemary’s Baby fame, again only the original is the read version) novel, which spawned a few unequal sequels that could never spark the same magic. In Stepford, men wanted perfect robotic wife’s and replaced their brains with computers.
EVENTOWN’s creators had more benevolent motivations, to heal from traumatic memories. Residents’ brains aren’t replaced, but their memories are erased. Naomi seems to relish life in EVENTOWN while Elodee, the more inquisitive and argumentative twin, struggles to hold on.
I’m a sucker for all twin books, fact or fiction. Elodee and Naomi had enough similarities and differences to feel authentic. My only criticism is that Corey Ann Haydu took too long to get to the meat of the story, which at times moves too slowly.
EVENTOWN is a fun MG novel.
July 4, 2019
From the start I could tell this book and I were not necessarily going to get on too well.
The book started by laying it on thick that something really tragic, bad, world-tilting, etc, etc had happened to our narrator and her family. I quickly got tired of being told something awful had happened but with no story development to go along with constantly being told.
It felt like the author was trying too hard to be profound.
The big reveal occurred too far into the story, about 280 pages into a 320 page book. I feel like the story would have had more impact for me if I had known what it was they were forgetting instead of just constantly being told they were forgetting something. Instead there was a long and kinda boring build up to the reveal and then the book ended almost immediately.
As far as the utopia of Eventown, I thought it was underdeveloped. I would have loved some more world building and understanding of exactly how it all worked.
I do appreciate that the author tackled a subject not usually explored in middle grade fiction but I also don't think it was addressed enough for such a serious topic. That is what happens when you wait until the end of the book to actually explore the topic.
The book started by laying it on thick that something really tragic, bad, world-tilting, etc, etc had happened to our narrator and her family. I quickly got tired of being told something awful had happened but with no story development to go along with constantly being told.
It felt like the author was trying too hard to be profound.
The big reveal occurred too far into the story, about 280 pages into a 320 page book. I feel like the story would have had more impact for me if I had known what it was they were forgetting instead of just constantly being told they were forgetting something. Instead there was a long and kinda boring build up to the reveal and then the book ended almost immediately.
As far as the utopia of Eventown, I thought it was underdeveloped. I would have loved some more world building and understanding of exactly how it all worked.
I do appreciate that the author tackled a subject not usually explored in middle grade fiction but I also don't think it was addressed enough for such a serious topic. That is what happens when you wait until the end of the book to actually explore the topic.
July 16, 2019
This is basically like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for kids.
As a grown-up, I really don't need to read another story about a supposed utopia that is actually *gasp* a dystopia. But, of course, to most child readers this will not come off as a tired trope. "Too good to be true" is a real thing, kids! Be suspicious of anyone who tells you it's possible to live in this world without discomfort.
As a grown-up, I really don't need to read another story about a supposed utopia that is actually *gasp* a dystopia. But, of course, to most child readers this will not come off as a tired trope. "Too good to be true" is a real thing, kids! Be suspicious of anyone who tells you it's possible to live in this world without discomfort.
December 31, 2019
At first I thought I knew what was happening, and then I was won't, and then I was delighted. Ib was pretty sure this was going to be a 3 star average book for me, but the last 40 pages are really wonderful.
January 25, 2019
Eventown seems like the perfect place to live until you take a closer look. Many of the components were eerie reminders of books like "The Giver." They sing the same song in music class every time; all the gymnasts do the very same routine flawlessly, the recipes provided in their kitchen turn out deliciously perfect meals every time; all the beautifully bound library books are blank, and so on. The most chilling aspect, though, has to be the Welcome Center where each new citizen goes to tell their stories and leave them behind forever. However, like one of Elodee's failed attempts at the jasmine olive oil cake, this story had an ingredient missing for me. The visit to the Welcome Center could have been used more strategically to build suspense while delivering a hint of what made the Lively family move to Eventown. Why does Elodee's three held onto stories cause such a huge influx of weeds? What happened when Veena's family rebelled in their own way and wore their story charms? There seemed to be no ramifications before Elodee's family arrived. I also felt like Elodee's attempt to retrieve memories was clunky. Not one of my favorite reads this year.
November 27, 2024
نویسنده به جای اینکه دلیل اتفاقات رو توضیح بده فقط توصیف میکنه فقط و فقط😣
بعد از خوندن ۱۴ فصل رهاش کردم
بعد از خوندن ۱۴ فصل رهاش کردم
September 23, 2022
Easy four stars for Eventown!
Something that always has me drawn to middle grade novels is the characters and the writing style. I just think it’s so unique, seeing things through these young character’s eyes, and the different words they use to describe the things, and the characters themselves… Eventown did not disappoint.
The characters in this book were for the most part believable, enjoyable, touching, and sweet. Coming into this I wasn’t sure about diversity in this book, but I saw people of many races and some lgbtq+ characters, which I was glad to see.
The pace of this book was pretty good, enough action at the right parts, but I do think the beginning 100 pages could have had some more foreshadowing, or little pieces of action to keep the reader wanting more.
Going into this, I wasn’t so sure about the climax. But it proved to be a pretty good climax, although it wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped, and the main character didn’t really face the challenges one might see when trying to resolve a climax. It just sort of felt like everything worked out perfectly. It honestly wasn’t that exciting.
As I said earlier, the characters were, for the most part, believable. For the most part. See, the main setting of this book is in this town called Eventown (I know, shocking) and things are perfect, amazing, and changeless. They use some form of supernatural magic or something to take memories (this isn’t really a spoiler) from new people, and make them hard to reach and “blurry”. What I don’t understand is this: coming from a human, normal place, our main character Elodee isn’t reacting at all to this. She’s just like oh this weird form of magic exists okay cool.
I also think the ending could’ve been better. This novel is a standalone, yet the ending left a little too many loose ends.
On a more positive note, the author’s writing incredible, and so is the theme in this story. The way she places a setting in your brain is perfect, and this book teachers make many important lessons.
Now the questions…
Would I recommend this book? Yes! Even to readers who don’t as much like middle grade. I think it’s a sweet book with some powerful important lessons and characters.
If this was a movie, what would I rate it? PG :)
Will I read any of this author’s other books? Probably not, but you never know!
Something that always has me drawn to middle grade novels is the characters and the writing style. I just think it’s so unique, seeing things through these young character’s eyes, and the different words they use to describe the things, and the characters themselves… Eventown did not disappoint.
The characters in this book were for the most part believable, enjoyable, touching, and sweet. Coming into this I wasn’t sure about diversity in this book, but I saw people of many races and some lgbtq+ characters, which I was glad to see.
The pace of this book was pretty good, enough action at the right parts, but I do think the beginning 100 pages could have had some more foreshadowing, or little pieces of action to keep the reader wanting more.
Going into this, I wasn’t so sure about the climax. But it proved to be a pretty good climax, although it wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped, and the main character didn’t really face the challenges one might see when trying to resolve a climax. It just sort of felt like everything worked out perfectly. It honestly wasn’t that exciting.
As I said earlier, the characters were, for the most part, believable. For the most part. See, the main setting of this book is in this town called Eventown (I know, shocking) and things are perfect, amazing, and changeless. They use some form of supernatural magic or something to take memories (this isn’t really a spoiler) from new people, and make them hard to reach and “blurry”. What I don’t understand is this: coming from a human, normal place, our main character Elodee isn’t reacting at all to this. She’s just like oh this weird form of magic exists okay cool.
I also think the ending could’ve been better. This novel is a standalone, yet the ending left a little too many loose ends.
On a more positive note, the author’s writing incredible, and so is the theme in this story. The way she places a setting in your brain is perfect, and this book teachers make many important lessons.
Now the questions…
Would I recommend this book? Yes! Even to readers who don’t as much like middle grade. I think it’s a sweet book with some powerful important lessons and characters.
If this was a movie, what would I rate it? PG :)
Will I read any of this author’s other books? Probably not, but you never know!
Read
August 9, 2019I had issues with this book. I understand the desire for a fresh start, but in my opinion, the parents were irresponsible to expect their children to deal with loss in the same way they wanted to. I also wonder what message this book sends to young readers when parents want to forget a child with mental health issues that commits suicide?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 30, 2019
Baby's First Dystopian
December 22, 2020
THE BEST BOOK I EVER READ!!!
July 10, 2018
I am a huge fan of The Someday Suitcase by Corey Ann Haydu, so I was thrilled that she shared an ARC of her newest book, Eventown, with #BookPosse. This middle-grade novel will publish in February 2019, so you will have to wait a while to get your hands on it, but I promise it will be worth the wait.
We meet twin sisters, Elodee and Naomi, on their last day in their hometown of Juniper. Things have been difficult for their family for a while; something terrible happened, and now they are sad all the time. Their parents decide to move the family, and they pick a small, idyllic place called Eventown. Everything seems perfect in Eventown; the food Elodee cooks tastes better than it ever has before; her father's rosebush from Juniper flourishes; her mom is finally happy, and shy Naomie feels right at home. Unfortunately, Elodee is having more trouble assimilating. A visit to the Eventown Welcoming Center is guaranteed to help Elodee fit in with everyone else. Unfortunately, her visit is cut short, and after that day, things start to go a little haywire in Eventown. Elodee starts questioning Eventown's perfection. The beautiful library is full of books with blank pages. The delicious ice cream shop only has three different flavors. There is only one song in all of Eventown. How can a place be perfect when everything and everyone is the same?
I must admit that I was a bit frustrated with this book when I was a 100 pages in and still had no idea what awful thing had happened to Elodee's family. We know that it was something sad that upended the family's lives, but we have no clue what happened to make them feel the need for a fresh start. I was desperate to know what trauma they were trying to escape, and I was getting angry that it seemed like I was never going to find out. I was just being too impatient because we finally learn about their tragic past in the most perfect way. This book would not have been as powerful if Haydu had chosen to reveal their loss at the beginning or even middle of the book. By waiting until the end of the book, we feel the family's loss even more.
Haydu's newest novel shows readers that "love is messy," but that messy can be beautiful and necessary. Our emotions are not isolated; we can be happy and sad at the same time. Sometimes we need to revisit events from our past, even if they are sad, to appreciate what we have in the present. This novel presents valuable life lessons (the importance of remembering the past and appreciating differences) in a very accessible way for middle-grade students. Eventown is a must-add to classroom and school libraries.
We meet twin sisters, Elodee and Naomi, on their last day in their hometown of Juniper. Things have been difficult for their family for a while; something terrible happened, and now they are sad all the time. Their parents decide to move the family, and they pick a small, idyllic place called Eventown. Everything seems perfect in Eventown; the food Elodee cooks tastes better than it ever has before; her father's rosebush from Juniper flourishes; her mom is finally happy, and shy Naomie feels right at home. Unfortunately, Elodee is having more trouble assimilating. A visit to the Eventown Welcoming Center is guaranteed to help Elodee fit in with everyone else. Unfortunately, her visit is cut short, and after that day, things start to go a little haywire in Eventown. Elodee starts questioning Eventown's perfection. The beautiful library is full of books with blank pages. The delicious ice cream shop only has three different flavors. There is only one song in all of Eventown. How can a place be perfect when everything and everyone is the same?
I must admit that I was a bit frustrated with this book when I was a 100 pages in and still had no idea what awful thing had happened to Elodee's family. We know that it was something sad that upended the family's lives, but we have no clue what happened to make them feel the need for a fresh start. I was desperate to know what trauma they were trying to escape, and I was getting angry that it seemed like I was never going to find out. I was just being too impatient because we finally learn about their tragic past in the most perfect way. This book would not have been as powerful if Haydu had chosen to reveal their loss at the beginning or even middle of the book. By waiting until the end of the book, we feel the family's loss even more.
Haydu's newest novel shows readers that "love is messy," but that messy can be beautiful and necessary. Our emotions are not isolated; we can be happy and sad at the same time. Sometimes we need to revisit events from our past, even if they are sad, to appreciate what we have in the present. This novel presents valuable life lessons (the importance of remembering the past and appreciating differences) in a very accessible way for middle-grade students. Eventown is a must-add to classroom and school libraries.
to-be-review
May 21, 2020This is a middle grade book. I won a kindle edition of this book from a goodreads giveaway, and I will post a honest review of this book as soon as I finish reading it.
February 7, 2020
I loved this book! It was an amazing blend of mystery, thought, and wit. It was obviously very well thought out and the plot was great. Eventown gave such a feeling of fakeness and mystery, which I found creepy and gripping at the same time. I recommend this book if you like mysteries and/ or middle grade novels.
Read
February 17, 2019My New York Times' review here.
February 14, 2020
An entertaining middle grade reminiscent of The Giver.
July 29, 2019
A well-written book is one that has different meanings and layered themes for readers to interpret as they may. One person might like the character development on what it is like to have a twin. Another reader might relate to the pressure the protagonist feels to conform to peers. Another might interpret that pressure as isolation and the loneliness of not fitting in because whenever he or she tries it blows up like a firecracker in unimaginable ways. Or perhaps the book reflects a depressed state of mind and the constant push to "try hard" to fit in. Or having a horrible memory. Or unable to face the past because of a terrible tragedy. No matter what your interpretation this book is strong in its character development and plot. There is a creepy element to it and the reader needs to be patient with the slow beginning. There was enough foreshadowing to keep me going and the end is full of action. The content of this book is more suited to older readers, ages 9 and up.
Eleven-year-old Elodee is struggling at school with her emotions. She's angry while her twin sister is quiet. Her mom and dad are sad but the reader doesn't know why. All that is known is everyone needs a new start and they relocate to Eventown where everyone is happy and things seem perfect. Mom, Dad, and Sis are fitting in but not Elodee. She asks too many questions and doesn't conform to the status quo. Her inquisitive nature makes her an outlier in the otherwise perfect town. And when her "Welcoming" interview goes awry things in the town get really messy.
The writing is beautiful with thoughtful internal monologues by Elodee particularly about stories and their relation to her emotions. The image of a library full of empty books because no one can remember any stories in town reminded me of my mother as dementia claimed her stories. Elodee takes risks and puts herself in uncomfortable positions as she deals with relationships, "Maybe if you love something enough, it matters more than fitting in and belonging and being safe." She tackles her emotions as she tries to deal with tragedy in her life. The book is interspersed with humor as Elodee deals with situations. A great message that hope and joy can be found in the messiness of life.
Eleven-year-old Elodee is struggling at school with her emotions. She's angry while her twin sister is quiet. Her mom and dad are sad but the reader doesn't know why. All that is known is everyone needs a new start and they relocate to Eventown where everyone is happy and things seem perfect. Mom, Dad, and Sis are fitting in but not Elodee. She asks too many questions and doesn't conform to the status quo. Her inquisitive nature makes her an outlier in the otherwise perfect town. And when her "Welcoming" interview goes awry things in the town get really messy.
The writing is beautiful with thoughtful internal monologues by Elodee particularly about stories and their relation to her emotions. The image of a library full of empty books because no one can remember any stories in town reminded me of my mother as dementia claimed her stories. Elodee takes risks and puts herself in uncomfortable positions as she deals with relationships, "Maybe if you love something enough, it matters more than fitting in and belonging and being safe." She tackles her emotions as she tries to deal with tragedy in her life. The book is interspersed with humor as Elodee deals with situations. A great message that hope and joy can be found in the messiness of life.
September 20, 2023
writing style was very elementary which was alright. but the thing they’re missing in Eventown and from their memories is so unexpected. it hit me me. i cried. did not expect that to be in a kids book. i’m not complaining. just very surprised. 2.75/5
March 11, 2019
Just finished Eventown by Corey Anne Haydu.
Wow. That one took it out of me. I spent the last 50+ pages either teary-eyed, sniffling, or full-on sobbing. Haydu goes deep into real-life, life-shattering issues that so many other Middle Grade authors tend to gloss over. I applaud it. How else will we give tweens & very early teens the permission to not only feel these emotions, but to know that those emotions mean something and are just as important as "adult" feelings during the same life upheaval?
I will say, it took a little bit of time to get into at the very beginning, but once I did, I was hooked.
Eventown in the story of Elodee, her identical twin sister, Naomi, and their parents moving to a new town to "start fresh" after a family tragedy. This new town, the book's namesake, seems like an absolutely perfect place to start anew for the family. Naomi and their parents seem to love fitting in with the new town, but Elodee starts to wonder if "perfect" is what she wants out of life.
I changed my mind several times while I read as to how to identify this book... Initially, it felt like a typical MG coming-of-age story, but a chapter or two later and I was transported into an episode of The Twilight Zone. (The Roses! The Welcome Center! The Library! *shakes fist angrily at the sky*) Then, at the end, the two came together for a powerful finish.
Now, as someone still dealing with a recent personal tragedy, this one hit a little too close to home. I may have felt a little too connected to the end, which is why I reacted so emotionally. However, it is still compelling and touching.
I give Eventown a solid 4.5 and highly recommend it for tweens to adults.
Wow. That one took it out of me. I spent the last 50+ pages either teary-eyed, sniffling, or full-on sobbing. Haydu goes deep into real-life, life-shattering issues that so many other Middle Grade authors tend to gloss over. I applaud it. How else will we give tweens & very early teens the permission to not only feel these emotions, but to know that those emotions mean something and are just as important as "adult" feelings during the same life upheaval?
I will say, it took a little bit of time to get into at the very beginning, but once I did, I was hooked.
Eventown in the story of Elodee, her identical twin sister, Naomi, and their parents moving to a new town to "start fresh" after a family tragedy. This new town, the book's namesake, seems like an absolutely perfect place to start anew for the family. Naomi and their parents seem to love fitting in with the new town, but Elodee starts to wonder if "perfect" is what she wants out of life.
I changed my mind several times while I read as to how to identify this book... Initially, it felt like a typical MG coming-of-age story, but a chapter or two later and I was transported into an episode of The Twilight Zone. (The Roses! The Welcome Center! The Library! *shakes fist angrily at the sky*) Then, at the end, the two came together for a powerful finish.
Now, as someone still dealing with a recent personal tragedy, this one hit a little too close to home. I may have felt a little too connected to the end, which is why I reacted so emotionally. However, it is still compelling and touching.
I give Eventown a solid 4.5 and highly recommend it for tweens to adults.
March 26, 2019
If you could escape grief by giving up your memories, would you? Something terrible happened to Elodee’s family, and now her parents have decided to move to Eventown for a fresh start. Elodee and her twin sister Naomi are initially excited about the things they remember from a visit a few years ago: the amazing ice cream shop, the beautiful views at the end of a hike, the way the air always smelled like roses. But while Naomi is eager to embrace the perfection and blend in to life in Eventown, Elodee misses her creative, imperfect way of doing things. In Eventown, she can use the recipes she was given to cook perfect meals every time, but she’d rather try her own wild flavor combinations, even if they don’t always turn out the way she wants. And she would rather remember the things Eventown wants her to forget, even if the memories sometimes hurt.
I thought the premise here was interesting, but it feels to me like the author belabors the point. For a relatively short book, it dragged at times, and the narration rambled. I got sidetracked by details: a rose bush is described as blooming in March, in a place where Elodee mentions the need for down coats? (In Eventown the roses apparently always bloom, but this rose bush was blooming in their old town.) Elodee’s cooking skills are pretty advanced, but otherwise she and the other kids seem young for their age. Also, considering that one of the main messages of the book is about embracing discomfort and the messiness of life, I thought the ending was a little too neat. All in all, this didn’t entirely work for me, but it’s gotten great reviews and a lot of people love it. If you enjoy juvenile fiction with magical realism, and don’t mind concept trumping plot, you might like this better than I did.
I thought the premise here was interesting, but it feels to me like the author belabors the point. For a relatively short book, it dragged at times, and the narration rambled. I got sidetracked by details: a rose bush is described as blooming in March, in a place where Elodee mentions the need for down coats? (In Eventown the roses apparently always bloom, but this rose bush was blooming in their old town.) Elodee’s cooking skills are pretty advanced, but otherwise she and the other kids seem young for their age. Also, considering that one of the main messages of the book is about embracing discomfort and the messiness of life, I thought the ending was a little too neat. All in all, this didn’t entirely work for me, but it’s gotten great reviews and a lot of people love it. If you enjoy juvenile fiction with magical realism, and don’t mind concept trumping plot, you might like this better than I did.
April 28, 2019
I am not sure the metaphor works—that wanting to forget can be equated with social conformance. Camazotz and Orphan Island and the Community in The Giver are similar setups and yet all “meant” different things, so I guess that’s a quibble too—the distinctive American attitude that individualism is prized over societal peace and welfare can be exploited in just about any kind of book like this, but this indiscriminateness makes the resulting world-building feel inconsistent. Still overall this was readable and felt. Some odd errors: the 2nd chapter title is “The Only Pretty Thing in Jupiter” not Juniper. And chapter 8 says the girls are in 6th grade but in chapter 11, their class is 5th grade.
notes-on-unfinished-books
August 24, 2019Notes on Chapters 1-5
This is basically a mid-tier M. Night Shyamalan story. It's not as good as one of his Bruce Willis movies, but it's not as bad as one of the later ones. It's kind of like The Village or Signs. There's a lot of deliberately enigmatic stuff happening, and the author is shoving mystery in my face, but I don't particularly feel compelled to solve the mystery. I feel pretty sure there's a deliberate cheat in here somewhere.
The story is that there's this family, and tragedy happened to them (maybe the death of a child). There are twins, only one of them doesn't interact much with people (are the twins the same person, or is one of them a ghost?) The family is going to solve their problem by moving to Eventown, which seems to be some kind of experimental care facility for dysfunctional families or maybe a cult. I don't really care about solving these mysteries because I feel like Haydu is deliberately messing with me and omitting details out of spite.
The front cover has a plug by my beloved favorite, Rebecca Stead. Rebecca Stead also writes puzzle books with narrative sleight of hand, but they have so much heart that I actually want to solve the puzzle. Eventown is a puzzle with so many pieces missing that I can't find the heart.
This is basically a mid-tier M. Night Shyamalan story. It's not as good as one of his Bruce Willis movies, but it's not as bad as one of the later ones. It's kind of like The Village or Signs. There's a lot of deliberately enigmatic stuff happening, and the author is shoving mystery in my face, but I don't particularly feel compelled to solve the mystery. I feel pretty sure there's a deliberate cheat in here somewhere.
The story is that there's this family, and tragedy happened to them (maybe the death of a child). There are twins, only one of them doesn't interact much with people (are the twins the same person, or is one of them a ghost?) The family is going to solve their problem by moving to Eventown, which seems to be some kind of experimental care facility for dysfunctional families or maybe a cult. I don't really care about solving these mysteries because I feel like Haydu is deliberately messing with me and omitting details out of spite.
The front cover has a plug by my beloved favorite, Rebecca Stead. Rebecca Stead also writes puzzle books with narrative sleight of hand, but they have so much heart that I actually want to solve the puzzle. Eventown is a puzzle with so many pieces missing that I can't find the heart.
August 22, 2019
I really think this concept would have worked better had the author thrown us right into Elodee's family's life in Eventown and unraveled the mystery from there. That way, the first person narrator wouldn't have to hide from the readers the important detail from their life that was only really hidden in the beginning so the author had something to reveal in plot twist fashion near the end. Even in Eventown, there were moments where the narrator really could have (and should have) mentioned it but didn't. And then, she couldn't mention it anymore, for spoilery reasons I won't go into and this all just felt incredibly manipulated to me. Kid readers may not feel this way, but I will say that the plot twist near the end may serve as more of a trigger for some kid readers than a clever surprise.
I kept finding myself wanting to know how this town worked, more than I was concerned about how life would work out for Elodee and her family, and in the end, I don't think the author cared as much about that as they did creating a vehicle to explore their idea of pain being a part of the human existence. This was frustrating in the same way Orphan Island was to me, a very interesting concept, not carried out or thought through the way I would have hoped.
I kept finding myself wanting to know how this town worked, more than I was concerned about how life would work out for Elodee and her family, and in the end, I don't think the author cared as much about that as they did creating a vehicle to explore their idea of pain being a part of the human existence. This was frustrating in the same way Orphan Island was to me, a very interesting concept, not carried out or thought through the way I would have hoped.
February 14, 2019
“Love has a lot to do with imperfections.” It was interesting to read this just after reading Coyote Sunrise - I don’t want to say too much but they both deal with escaping grief in different ways. This one was much stronger to me. It reminded me a bit of City of Ember (in a good way) and of course there were aspects of The Giver. I liked the wrong feeling of the new town although I think I would have liked it to be just a little bit creepier. Maybe a tiny bit more like Camazotz. Anyway, this was great.
May 8, 2019
This book takes on the mammoth task of engaging younger readers with empathetic and complex characters while juggling topics involving grief, isolation, loneliness, and the struggles and costs of feel "happy". There are parallels to Lois Lowry's THE GIVER, but this feels less mythical and more accessible to younger readers.
August 11, 2020
Sometimes you just want to peek at a book to see if it's any good.
But for this one, I peeked and then sat down and read chapter after chapter. I read the whole entire thing in one day! It's wonderful, heartwarming and, well, perfect!
But for this one, I peeked and then sat down and read chapter after chapter. I read the whole entire thing in one day! It's wonderful, heartwarming and, well, perfect!
December 14, 2021
4.5 stars.
"Being weird is the same as being brave," Elodee Lively remembers someone telling her. She knows her twin sister Naomi is sensitive to attention and standing out, so sometimes Elodee is brave for both of them, letting her reckless creativity and lack of inhibition pull attention from Naomi when situations get too intense.
But what happens when one's whole life is too intense? This is where the girls and their parents are at the start of this book. We don't know why, but everyone is acting oddly around them. Their 5th grade friends keep them at arms' distance. Teachers seem extra understanding, even as Elodee's behavior surprises her with its eruptions. Everyone agrees it's a good thing that the family is moving to Eventown, a lovely, perfect village where they had an amazing vacation once before.
This book is gentle and slow, but steeped in mystery. It keeps mum on why people are so wary ofElodee's family at the beginning, and then it hints at something more than just accidental charm at work in Eventown. From the minute the Livelys arrive in Eventown, it is just right. Their cozy house is furnished *just so* with thoughtful touches for each member of the family. Elodee and Naomi immediately meet neighbor girls who welcome them with open arms as new BFFs. They walk over wooden bridges and misty waterfalls on the long way to school (that everyone takes because it's so amazing), and find every class funner than the last. It's just a big bucket of awesome, including for Elodee's parents, whose smiles and belly laughs have returned after a long hiatus.
Like the rest of the book, Haydu handles the ending delicately and deftly. She answers reader's questions at the same time as she gives the Livelys their answers. They learn that they didn't need Eventown after all. They already have each other, and that is enough.
I had 2 minor quibbles with the book: First, a typo at the start of Chapter 2 (where the town name of Juniper is misspelled in the title as Jupiter) kept me wondering for a couple of chapters if it had significance for the plot. I didn't. Second, Elodee talks about the North Star being the brightest in the sky. Nope. Not even close. Sloppy fact-checking.
Nonetheless, I highly recommend for adults alone or to read with/to kids. It feels like an instant classic, in good company with The Giver or A Wrinkle in Time.
"Being weird is the same as being brave," Elodee Lively remembers someone telling her. She knows her twin sister Naomi is sensitive to attention and standing out, so sometimes Elodee is brave for both of them, letting her reckless creativity and lack of inhibition pull attention from Naomi when situations get too intense.
But what happens when one's whole life is too intense? This is where the girls and their parents are at the start of this book. We don't know why, but everyone is acting oddly around them. Their 5th grade friends keep them at arms' distance. Teachers seem extra understanding, even as Elodee's behavior surprises her with its eruptions. Everyone agrees it's a good thing that the family is moving to Eventown, a lovely, perfect village where they had an amazing vacation once before.
This book is gentle and slow, but steeped in mystery. It keeps mum on why people are so wary ofElodee's family at the beginning, and then it hints at something more than just accidental charm at work in Eventown. From the minute the Livelys arrive in Eventown, it is just right. Their cozy house is furnished *just so* with thoughtful touches for each member of the family. Elodee and Naomi immediately meet neighbor girls who welcome them with open arms as new BFFs. They walk over wooden bridges and misty waterfalls on the long way to school (that everyone takes because it's so amazing), and find every class funner than the last. It's just a big bucket of awesome, including for Elodee's parents, whose smiles and belly laughs have returned after a long hiatus.
Like the rest of the book, Haydu handles the ending delicately and deftly. She answers reader's questions at the same time as she gives the Livelys their answers. They learn that they didn't need Eventown after all. They already have each other, and that is enough.
I had 2 minor quibbles with the book: First, a typo at the start of Chapter 2 (where the town name of Juniper is misspelled in the title as Jupiter) kept me wondering for a couple of chapters if it had significance for the plot. I didn't. Second, Elodee talks about the North Star being the brightest in the sky. Nope. Not even close. Sloppy fact-checking.
Nonetheless, I highly recommend for adults alone or to read with/to kids. It feels like an instant classic, in good company with The Giver or A Wrinkle in Time.
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