Megan E. Freeman

While ALONE was Maddie's survival story after everyone in her town was evacuated, AWAY is the story of a handful of other Coloradan kids who were evacuated, where they went, and what they did during their years(!) there - including some top-notch muckraking, journalism, and documentary filmmaking.

Aspiring filmmaker Teddy's sense of urgency stems from his parents' early deaths; he lives with his grandma, who runs a theater.

High-achieving academic Ashanti dreams of going to medical school and show more becoming a doctor like her mother.

Aspiring journalist Harmony is inspired by her Aunt Beckie and other "muckrakers" throughout history; her mother and younger sister Pax are with her in the camp, but their father left the family.

Grandin is set on serving in the military, then returning home to his family's ranch; he feels deeply connected to the land and animals. He evacuates with his parents, but at the last moment, his father disappears from the line: did he decide to run, or was he pulled?

Their story is told in verse, (unsent) letters, Harmony's articles, and Teddy's journal and film script, revealing a conspiracy the kids work together to take down.

There is also a dog named Popcorn and nothing bad happens to the dog.

Willing suspension of disbelief is required (people gave up their cell phones and lived for 2+ years without internet? Friends and family on the outside didn't press to get in touch?), and a few details are glossed over (there are no outlets, but Teddy must be charging his camera somehow), but there is historical precedent (e.g. the Japanese camps during WWII) so it's not a huge reach.

Quotes

only been / twenty-four hours / and / I'm already / doubting / what I think / I remember (Grandin, 107)

unanswered questions / unquestioned answers (Grandin, 112)

Or maybe the story is the rumors: how people invent information in the absence of facts. (Teddy, 121)

mom says / what happens to human minds / shows up in human bodies (Ashanti, 204)

Is the story shifting? ...This is no longer a film about disaster and restoration. This totally changes the nature of the story we thought we were telling. (Teddy, 240)

Anyone who says art can't change the world never studied history. (Teddy, 451) show less

*Spoiler alert*

Twelve-year-old Maddie just wanted a night alone with her two best friends, but when they're unable to join her, she spends the night alone at her grandparents' vacant house - and wakes up completely alone. Everyone has vanished on mysterious transports, including her divorced parents - each one thinks she's with the other. Alone in her town, Maddie rescues the next door neighbor's dog, George, who becomes her only companion for the next couple of years. Together, they move show more back and forth between Maddie's mom's and dad's houses depending on the season, raid houses and stores for food, drinking water, and supplies, defend each other against threats, and keep each other company. Maddie faces loneliness and danger (one group of looters; a tornado; a flash flood; a fire started by lightning), and survives by relying on the public library for entertainment (novels and poetry) and information (how to grow a garden). Resourceful Maddie survives, hoping her parents will come find her, until it occurs to her that the reason they haven't come is because they're dead. But soon after she begins to believe this, she's proven (happily) wrong.

An excellent speculative survival story in verse. See also: Hatchet, Island of the Blue Dolphins (mentioned in the text)

Quotes

I wish I was in [math] class for real.
Happily bored and surrounded
by people I didn't even
realize I loved. (80)

The imminent threat
all the reporters
were talking about
has yet to materialize. (114)

I will do whatever it takes
to stay alive. (194)

I'll never know if the risk I didn't take
was the stupidest decision of my life
or the thing that saved it. (202)

It's just that my grief and loneliness
are no longer burdened by hope
that things will change. (369) show less

Trigger Warnings: food and water scarcity, injury, animal death, mentions of dead animal bodies

After plans fall through for her secret sleepover with her best friends, Maddie still stays over at her grandparents’ empty apartment - but she wakes to a nightmare. Maddie’s alone. Everyone in Millerville, Colorado has been evacuated and the town has been completely abandoned.

With her only companion being a Rottweiler named George, Maddie slowly learns how to survive on her own with no power, show more no running water, no phone or internet access, and a town deserted. As months pass, Maddie and George survive natural disasters, ruthless looters, wild animals, and the elements of nature with stride. It’s the loneliness that is slowly getting to Maddie. Can her will to survive continue to get her through the most frightening experience of her life?

I love novels in verse stories as well as post-apocalyptic novels, and this has been a story I’ve been wanting to read for the longest time and I finally picked it up at my library. I read all of this in one setting. It was that captivating. The language is gorgeous and the breaking up of the verses really showcase and capture Maddie’s loneliness, heartache, and still - hope.

I also loved George and the companionship he provided for Maddie there were TWO TIMES I thought George had passed away and BOTH TIMES I was ready to throw the book across the room in sorrow. Plus, you need to have a furry sidekick during the apocalypse, and a big Rottweiler named George is one of the best.

I can see audiences of middle grade readers and up enjoying this. Though, I will say there is a scene of animal cruelty specifically the death of a kitten that I do think should be taken into consideration for a younger reader. Otherwise, this was such a wonderful and captivating read (again, I read all 400+ pages in one setting). I am for sure keeping an eye out to purchase my own copy and will be giving this title out on plenty of recommendations. show less

This may be a middle grade novel, but the subject matter and the gorgeous prose can easily be enjoyed for older readers. This is a novel in verse, which can be decisive for many readers, but I found it took nothing from the story and actually read better than a regular chapter book. You are still able to plainly feel Maddie’s hope, pain and loneliness. You can also see the desolate town and the wilds of nature through Maddie’s eyes.
This wasn’t always an easy book to read: for for show more example, reading about Maddie finding all of the pets left behind made me cry. Maddie faces wild animals and natural disasters, but nothing ever felt unrealistic like it has in other books. Maddie often finds out the hard way how to do something she has never done before, and she’s tenacious in her quest to expand her knowledge. It’s how I imagine I and others would fare in the same situation-I would just study as much as I could and use what I learned.
This was a beautiful book and I can’t help but give it more praise. Its’s sad to see the lower star reviews on here and I hope those reviewers give it another chance. show less