Alone by Megan E. Freeman

 

I found Megan Freeman's Alone through a recommendation from Amazon. I was intrigued by the pretty cover design, and when I saw that it was a middle grades survival story written in verse, I decided to give it a try. I've written before about my love for adventure novels, and Hatchet in particular, so I was hoping that this would have similar vibes. 

The plot of the novel follows a twelve-year-old girl named Maddie who wakes up one morning to find herself completely alone in her small hometown. The entire state has seemingly been evacuated for reasons Maddie doesn't really understand, and she's missed the transports out with the rest of her family. at first, she hunkers down in her house and waits for someone to return for her, but as the weeks drag on, she realizes that no one is coming back anytime soon and she needs to take care of herself. With only the neighbors' dog for company, she begins venturing out to gather supplies for her survival. She faces challenges like living without electricity, procuring food and water, staying warm in the winter, fending off wild animals, and dealing with injuries. She captures her feelings about everything in a journal in verse form, and as her entries go on, she becomes stronger and more self-sufficient. Alone is a story about survival, self-confidence, and growing up in extraordinary circumstances.

This novel was very good, and I really enjoyed reading about Maddie's journey. Watching her travel around her empty streets collecting food from houses and books from the library had a genuinely unsettling feeling, and the use of verse rather than prose contributed to the isolated tone of the story. There were fewer words to read, which matched Maddie's loneliness well. The pages looked empty just like the town was empty. The strategy worked well.

The characterization was great too. Maddie shows clear growth throughout the story, moving from being scared and sad to capable and strong. Her circumstances push her to do things she never thought she would have to do, and watching her use the limited resources available to her to learn was very satisfying. The plot spans a few years too, so there was plenty of time there for her arc to feel reasonable. This is the kind of story that would inspire kids and encourage them to think about what they would do if they ended up alone somehow, and anything that encourages that kind of engagement with the text is great for young readers. Even I was doing this as I was reading, so the motivation factor isn't just limited to kids here.

The one aspect of the text that I thought needed some improvement was the halfway-dystopian setup for Maddie being left alone. Freeman drops vague bits of information about the evacuation being ordered due to a suspected attack from a foreign nation, and then kind of turns that on its head in the novel's final pages to be due to something else nefarious. I almost wish she had just left the specifics completely out of the story, because the bits that were there were very flimsy and took away from the believability of the book. We already know from events like Hurricane Katrina that there are always lots of people that do not comply with evacuation orders for various reasons. There is literally no way that Maddie would find herself completely alone if such an order were passed. If the reasons for everyone leaving were left unknown, it would have made everything more unsettling, which wouldn't have been bad. It's more believable that a twelve-year-old would not be following current events and find herself left completely in the dark about what happened than it is to suppose the threat of an attack would cause every single person to leave a state. As this wasn't a big part of the story though, it didn't impact my enjoyment of the book too much.   

So overall, I thought Alone was a fantastic read and I like almost everything about it. This is a great story for younger readers as it is quick to read and genuinely interesting. Maddie's struggle to survive is very engaging and her growth across the text is satisfying to watch. This is a novel that I will definitely be recommending my to students. 

Challenge Tally

Middle Grade Mission: 14/24

Total Books Read in 2022: 35