Alone by Megan E. Freeman
Genre
Alone is a fictional novel-in-verse. Other genres include Adventure, Survival, and Dystopian. The category I am reviewing for is Pre-K-6th Poetry or Novel in Verse.
Target Age Group
Alone is best suited for middle schoolers around 10-13. Note: themes of mild violence and profanity.
Summary
Alone follows 13-year-old Madeleine as she coordinates a sleepover gone wrong. With each parent thinking she is at the other's house when she is really alone at her grandparent's house, a sudden national crisis triggers a widescale evacuation, leaving Madeleine left behind and alone with only her neighbor's Rottweiler. The pair must learn to adapt and survive in this new life and wait for both a strange impending national emergency and for rescue to arrive if it ever will.
Justification
Novels-in-verse are a lesser common genre, especially those geared toward younger audiences. Similar in mood to Hatchet, I was interested to see where Freeman would take the plot of this apocalyptic, survival narrative. With a female protagonist leading the tale, this novel is an important one for young teens to read due to its themes of self-reliance, perseverance, and resilience.
Evaluation
Though I would like to analyze each poem, I have limited my evaluation to characterization, figurative language, and pacing.
Characterization
Madeleine is placed in an unimaginable scenario. Her whole family may possibly be dead, no one knows where she is, and she doesn't know if anyone in the world is alive, what the national emergency even is, or how long she will survive after food runs out. Being only 13 years old, Madeleine has to grow up fast to survive. Due to the serious nature of events in this book, Madeleine's character development happens rapidly. There are few moments when we see her vulnerable side as she is steadfast in her resolution to stay alive. When the readers are allowed these moments, it only makes them more powerful and makes us realize that, despite her looting, literacy, and intuition, she is still just a kid. For example, halfway through the novel we receive this honest admittance: "I am so tired of holding it all together" (Freeman, 2021, p. 201). There are also times such as when she must drive her mom's minivan where we are let inside her thoughts: "WhatifIgetintrouble / fordrivingunderage?" (Freeman, 2021, p. 143). Despite surviving alone in an apocalypse, there are still parts of Madeleine that reflect her life before the disaster. She is a child that does not want to get in trouble. One other important aspect of Madeleine's characterization is how her family becomes a more intertwined aspect of her personality. Madeleine realizes, "I don't recognize / my face / but / I see / my father / in my / hands" (Freeman, 2021, p. 117). In the heightened state she must constantly exist in, she barely has time to reconcile with her rapidly changing identity, but recognizes the people who are no longer there with her who have had a monumental impact on her development.
Figurative Language
Using ample figurative language in children's literature is a fun, beneficial way to get young people interested in reading and in language more broadly. Being a novel-in-verse, language is used in deliberate and creative ways. For example, to showcase the short, breathless thoughts Madeleine often experiences, Freeman (2021) spaces out each word with each breath such as in the lines: "muscles / explode / pedals / blur" (p. 104-105). Freeman also employs dramatic similes and metaphors to not only allow the reader to experience what Madeleine is, but to explain scenarios in ways that make sense to a teenager, because they are being explained by one: "Sometimes / the way my mom talks to me / feels like a scratchy shirt tag / on the back of my neck" (Freeman, 2021, p. 5). A personal favorite metaphor of mine that Freeman (2021) uses is "The sky is guacamole" (p. 212). Madeline states this when a tornado is occurring. Metaphors such as these prompt the reader to ask "how can a sky be guacamole?" But when considering that tornadoes create a mix of objects and weather in the sky, to our young protagonist this is a clever comparison on point with her character. Freeman's (2021) use of figurative language further allows us into Madeleine's mind with personification such as: "loneliness and insanity / are twin houseguests / and / it's hard to entertain one / without inviting the other in / as well" (p. 251). In addition to being a poignant, relatable observation, this line allows the reader to understand the internal struggle that Madeleine is at war with throughout the duration of the narrative. She is alone, but she must hold on to her mind.
Pacing
One benefit of writing in verse is that pacing can be structured in different ways. Each new poem gives the reader a sense of where we are the story. For example, often times seasons are used as titles, allowing us to keep track of where we are in the current year. Seasons and weather are especially important in the pacing of the novel since, as Madeleine must survive in different ways depending on the changing weather, the reader gets a sense of how much time has past by each changing season and event. There are times when gaps between entire months are included, but this decision makes sense according to the plot. When surviving alone, there ought to be days when not many events happen. Other days such as when looters arrive or extreme weather occurs, there is more to include. When these tense events do happen, Freeman's use of one word lines actively tracing what Madeleine is feeling or doing quickens the pace significantly and allows the reader to feel her anxiety as well. When less tense events are happening, lines become longer in length and the language is less action-worded and more reflective. Overall, the pacing is even.
Reference
Freeman, M. E. (2021). Alone. Simon and Schuster.