North of Everything

by Craig Crist-Evans

After moving away from the exciting city life of Miami to the peaceful countryside of Vermont, a young family has to learn to adjust to their new surroundings and find a new way of life in a world quite unfamiliar to all of them.

Genres: Poetry, Juvenile, Young Adult, Middle Grade

67 pages, Hardcover

First published September 9, 2004

About the author

"Every step forward, every word, is an act of discovery," said author Craig Crist-Evans of his approach to writing poetry. And he obviously found a winning formula, as evidenced by the International Reading Association's Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award he received for MOON OVER TENNESSEE: A BOY'S CIVIL WAR JOURNAL.

Craig Crist-Evans's mastery of poetic form is also apparent in NORTH OF EVERYTHING, a poignant novel-in-verse about a family who moves to a Vermont farm in search of a new beginning and a simpler life. Of his inspiration for this book, the author said, "NORTH OF EVERYTHING is my attempt to portray the changes one boy and his family experience--through the shifting seasons and in their own lives--that lead them to a humble acceptance of both beauty and loss in the world." This spare, lyrical novel will speak to anyone who has experienced change and loss, and who has faced the struggle--and found the spirit to carry on.


Prior to writing NORTH OF EVERYTHING, Craig Crist-Evans decided to try his hand at a new format: his first prose novel. "AMARYLLIS was an experiment," the author said. "I sat down without any idea at all of what might come. I wanted to attempt prose the same way I do poems. And so it was an act of discovery, for the story itself, and for my sense of myself as a fiction writer." The result was a haunting story of two brothers separated, yet forever connected, by the devastation of war--a partly autobiographical novel that incorporates themes from the author's younger days. "It was the fall of 1965. My family had just moved from Ohio to Florida," the author recalled. "During one of the biggest hurricanes of the century, the AMARYLLIS nosed into the east coast of Florida near West Palm Beach. For three years, its rusting hulk rose above the beach where I surfed, skipped school, and fell in love. When I started to write this story, that ship rose up again in memory and cast its shadow across those years of turmoil, fear, and change we now call the Vietnam War." Says KIRKUS REVIEWS of Craig Crist-Evans's prose "experiment" in a starred review: "With its almost painful realism, this is the finest depiction of war we've seen yet for young readers."


In addition to authoring books, poet and writer Craig Crist-Evans published poems, articles, essays, and reviews in numerous journals, and he taught English and directed the Writing Center at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Craig Crist-Evans died in 2005.

Reviews

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short poetry story.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful little poetic story about life, love and loss on a New England farm. A random pickup from the Free library.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A boy and his parents move from Florida to a farm in Vermont, but shortly thereafter tragedy strikes--Dad is diagnosed with cancer. I loved the poetry, the imagery that the author uses. However, after Dad dies the narrator continues talking about the farm and the seasons as if nothing had happened. Then at the end the boy and his mother both grieve. Maybe the focus on other things after Dad's death is supposed to reflect the narrator's numbness, or attempt to escape the sadness by thinking of other things. It came across to me as if there were an emotional hole in the story right where the narrator's grieving should have been. I think this story would have been better had it been longer, more fleshed out.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

too

short

[Brucie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written in poetry (which I like!) It's sad but good - has some nice imagery.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. A very sweet book in verse about a son who learns to live a simpler life.

[Nicole Escario · Rating 4 out of 5]

a whole story through poems. my first encounter, i guess. Amazing.

[Ava Meadows · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a interesting book, you had to really pay attention to the words and be able to connect things but it was really good