Eventown

I loved EVENTOWN so much! It’s a beautiful, suspenseful, thought-provoking, and deeply emotional story about an 11-year-old girl named Elodee, whose family moves to Eventown to get a fresh start in the aftermath of something terrible. In Eventown, everything is pretty, pleasant, and predictable, but Elodee isn’t so sure that she fits in her perfect new home...or that she’s willing to let go of what she’s supposed to give up in order to stay there.EVENTOWN is a celebration of messiness, mistakes, love, human connection, and the way happy things and sad things are inextricably bound. It’s wonderful, and a great book to hand to kids (or adults) who strive to do everything right and feel shame when they make mistakes.

It was good quality paper. It was also a very good book for a kid who does not like to read. The book helps create a lot of imagination.

This book was so magical and beautiful and sad. But it was also full of hope. I loved it.

Returned book. It was purchased for 10 year old advanced reader. I didn’t realize when I ordered that it concerned the suicide of a sibling. When I read more reviews, I found that information and returned. Not appropriate reading material for my granddaughter at this point in her life.

WOW! Just, WOW. What a horrible surprise.Very glad I decided to read this before passing it on to my two children.The basic premise is that a family has a teen son commit suicide by overdosing on prescription drugs. The family then moves to a town (Even-town) where they are brainwashed to forget the suicide and all other bad things. One child is not completely indoctrinated into the cult and she ends up destroying it.This is not at a all a child’s book - big, serious, troubling themes are addressed. This is on par with other adult literature.Children should be educated about the dangers of prescription drugs and the very real tragedy of teen suicide. Sneaking it in to startle readers in the next to last chapter is NOT a productive, fruitful way to do it. This book will do more harm than good.Parents, please be warned.

We meet twin sisters, Elodee and Naomi, on their last day in their hometown of Juniper. Things have been difficult for their family for a while; something terrible happened, and now they are sad all the time. Their parents decide to move the family, and they pick a small, idyllic place called Eventown. Everything seems perfect in Eventown; the food Elodee cooks tastes better than it ever has before; her father's rosebush from Juniper flourishes; her mom is finally happy, and shy Naomie feels right at home. Unfortunately, Elodee is having more trouble assimilating. A visit to the Eventown Welcoming Center is guaranteed to help Elodee fit in with everyone else. Unfortunately, her visit is cut short, and after that day, things start to go a little haywire in Eventown. Elodee starts questioning Eventown's perfection. The beautiful library is full of books with blank pages. The delicious ice cream shop only has three different flavors. There is only one song in all of Eventown. How can a place be perfect when everything and everyone is the same?I must admit that I was a bit frustrated with this book when I was a 100 pages in and still had no idea what awful thing had happened to Elodee's family. We know that it was something sad that upended the family's lives, but we have no clue what happened to make them feel the need for a fresh start. I was desperate to know what trauma they were trying to escape, and I was getting angry that it seemed like I was never going to find out. I was just being too impatient because we finally learn about their tragic past in the most perfect way. This book would not have been as powerful if Haydu had chosen to reveal their loss at the beginning or even middle of the book. By waiting until the end of the book, we feel the family's loss even more.Haydu's newest novel shows readers that "love is messy," but that messy can be beautiful and necessary. Our emotions are not isolated; we can be happy and sad at the same time. Sometimes we need to revisit events from our past, even if they are sad, to appreciate what we have in the present. This novel presents valuable life lessons (the importance of remembering the past and appreciating differences) in a very accessible way for middle-grade students. Eventown is a must-add to classroom and school libraries.

When Elodee Lively and her family move to Eventown in search of a fresh start, things are wondrous and perfect. The town boasts an ice cream parlor where tubs of unusually flavored treats await; vanilla rose, chocolate blueberry and maple caramel ice cream that will not melt. Waterfall-filled woods grace the pathways on walks to school. People are kind, and pain does not exist. However, can a town be too perfect?I loved the unusual ice cream flavors and the woods of waterfalls.This story is a vibrant and beautifully written tale that explores the themes of forgetting, confronting tragedy and family relationships. I loved the way Mrs. Haydu portrays Elodee and her twin sister, Naomi. Both sisters are so different yet rely on each other. I loved how the book explores how each sister has to learn to face challenges on their own. While Eventown deals with a horrendous tragedy at its heart, Haydu does well at keeping the reader guessing what the tragedy might be. I enjoyed the air of mystery this narrative style evoked. While I believed that I had the mystery solved, the author managed to surprise me. It is refreshing to read a book about grief that approaches the subject from a different angle. The perfect town has its flaws, hidden though they may be. However, I appreciate the authentic and sympathetic characters. There are no villains in this story, just honestly flawed people trying to do their best. I understood the motivations of the townspeople and could relate to the need forget. Eventown explores the need for discussion of painful events and the importance of remembering, even the unpleasant things. Only in imperfection can love exist.Thoroughly recommended! God bless you all.