Alone

Alone by Megan Freeman is a great book about a tired, rebellious teen that has to switch back and forth between two divorced parents looking for a break. A break that turns out to be a long 3 years alone. I love all the references used in the book to other stories, authors and poetry. I love how the girl uses the library as a constant reference place and continues to read throughout everything going on. I think that writing could be more structured in complete sentences, rather than the choppy thought that are used. The author does a great use of details and figurative language as she writes that allows the reader to easily visualize and story and feel like you are there along with the character. Megan Freeman does a great job at building anxiety through the character and allowing the reader to feel as the character feels in the text. I would rate this book overall a 5 out of 5 stars based on the uniqueness and quality of how the story is told. It seems to be written for children as young as 10 and closer to a 5th grade reading level, but can easily be enjoyed by adults as well!

I love this book!!! The storyline is so interesting and I’ve just started reading the sequel.I definitely recommend you read this.Its great for 10-13 year olds.

My daughter could not put this down, until she needed to. She was absolutely enthralled with the story, but because she began it at night and the girl was the same age as she, it was a little disturbing for her to think of being left alone (even though we were all in the house with her). She took a break and finished the book in the morning. She really enjoyed it, but because it's written in prose, it's a really fast read. When I asked her to rate it afterward, she said 6 or 7 out of 10. I think just because the whole thing was over so quickly, it didn't give a prolonged enjoyment like a normal book. In any case, a good read, but just know it won't last them long!

hi interest easy read.

At first I wasn’t sure, but I kept reading. The words, the story pulled me on. I got caught up and needed to find where it would lead me. At the end I was very glad I read this book. It is good, unlike anything I ever read before!

Thank YOU to seller. Book arrived within the time frame given, well-wrapped, and in good shape. Thank YOU to independent bookstore, Monkey and Dog Books, in Ft Worth, Texas. During my first visit to your store, a small sticker of the cover of ALONE - a novel in verse - caught my eye, in a basket of free stickers and bookmarks, etc. I'm a happy, retired, introvert, and the sweet illustration and title drew me in! Searching more about the book, and the author, who lives in the same neighborhood I used to live in, in Colorado, oh yeh, oh yeh, I HAD to read this story! Thank YOU author, Megan Freeman! I love, love, love, ALONE. Being highly sensitive, and empathic, I was immediately engaged in Maddie's world, within the first couple pages, for sure! The writing style you chose adds exactly the right amount of emphasis, emotion, color, texture, rhythm. It is the perfect story! BRAVO!

It is a great book. But I think it is more for 10 years old girls and up.

Almost-thirteen-year-old Maddie is “a ghost in a twenty-first century ghost town,” after a mysterious event wipes out the entire population Millerville, Colorado—overnight—in Megan E. Freeman’s ALONE. What happened? How and why was Maddie spared? Will she survive? Will she find her family? Will her family find her? Maddie’s experience really is a kid’s worst nightmare. Narrating through striking, skeletal prose, she discloses details about herself, her family, and her friend, Emma, a fashionista—who never told Maddie about her parents’ pending divorce. “I am on my own…childhood is over.” Matter-of-factly, Maddie doesn’t complain. A resourceful and independent bookworm, Maddie “gets to work,” moving to her dad’s house, stocking up for winter, growing a garden, outwitting hungry coyotes and looters, and overcoming other “impossible obstacles." It doesn’t take long for Maddie to realize survival is more than food, water, and shelter. She craves the irreplaceable comfort of people. Not even Maddie’s furry companion George can replace the sound of the human voice. There is none like it “in all the world,” Scott O’Dell’s epigraph warns the reader. Maddie wants her mom. She’d even settle to be back in math, surrounded by people she “didn’t even realize [she] loved.” A flushing toilet lends her a moment of feeling human again. As fall moves into winter, spring, summer, and back into fall, Maddie reads, sleeps, and forges her way through the days. The reader imagines her sitting by the fire, flashlight in hand, journaling in what becomes the book. Between the bindings are words about words. Even the spaces speak. Heaven, Exploration, Peril, Desolation, Acceptance, Reconciliation: ALONE is broken into parts by single, stark terms and their definitions. A postcard, text messages, voicemail, a book report, and a letter to God add depth and dimension to structure and plot. Like an ice crystal in the Colorado winter, the novel catches light, giving color and hope to what it means to be human. Freeman artfully adds hollow beauty to the survival story. Maddie’s whispers trail from the last pages: “There is only this / the touch of their hands / skin on warm skin / to be held / to be seen / to be heard / to be known / these are the nutrients…”

So I never thought I would love a book of prose/ poetry this much. I didn’t realise when I purchased, but I couldn’t put it down. This is how all poetry should be. Amazing. Love the journey she goes on. You really don’t feel like you are not reading a novel. Amazing. About to purchase the second book.

11 year old Daughter absolutely loved this book and shredded a tear at the end. Every time she read abit she would be so excited to come and tell me what happened

Excellent story. Kept my grade six completely engaged as a read aloud.

Great story. Reads like nothing I've ever read before. A must read!

I loved this book! Such a great story and a really unusual way of writing. Highly recommended to anyone (not just YA/MG)