Review Detail

When Elodee's world is shaken, she and her family, including her twin sister, Naomi, move to Eventown. At first, Eventown seems like everything they need. The weather is always nice. Elodee's baking is always perfect. Naomi's gymnastics are better than ever. But Eventown isn't exactly normal with its perfection. There are only 3 flavors of ice cream, only one song exists in the whole town, the houses all look the same, and all the books are filled with blank pages. Elodee feels more and more like a sore thumb as the rest of her family embraces Eventown. Elodee has to decide if she is willing to pay the cost of becoming a full Eventown person, even if it means giving up something she holds dear.

In Elodee's story, we first only know that something big and bad has happened, something that affected her whole family and caused their town to pity them. Eventown is a chance for a fresh start, or so everyone says. Anyone who has ever experienced tragedy will understand Elodee's uncertainty, her anger, and the knot of her thoughts. I love her journey in moving to Eventown and learning the different ways people respond to heavy emotions, ways that are both healthy and unhealthy. Ultimately, Elodee learns that when you have hard memories, you ultimately have to make a choice: to remember them, pain and all, because it's part of who you are, or to push them away and do your best to forget them, even if it means becoming less of yourself.

Corey Ann Haydu is a master at taking some of the hardest things that can happen in life and making it into a beautiful and highly accessible story. EVENTOWN is a book so clearly written for young readers, one that really presents the world in ways they can reference that is never condescending. The story is like the feeling you get when you've been given the warmest and kindest hug after a long period of feeling alone and sad; you're still sad, but there's a new comfort and a new hope to hold on to.