Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers

Saturday, February 18, 2012

YOU’LL LIKE IT HERE, EVERYONE DOES by Ruth White

Book Review:

I don’t like it when books surprise me by turning into a fantasy half-way through. This one does have a surprise, but Ruth White handled it so well that I loved it. Loved it enough to tell my picky teen she had to read it. Meggie has nightmares about the man who entered her California classroom with a gun, saying he was an alien hunter and going to shoot the alien. The family, consisting of Mom, Grandpa, Meggie and her brother David, move to a small town where rumors spread of aliens “suck out your soul by your toes,” I had enough hints that something unusual was going on. But what I found out was going on was so exactly the opposite of what I thought that I felt delighted and amazed at Ruth White’s creativity.
I can’t tell more without spoiling it, but the author creates a society that reminds me of Ally Condie’s MATCHED and CROSSED. Combine that with good characterization and great plot, and it’s a practically perfect story. The ending wraps everything up perhaps too neatly, but don’t we all love a good happy outcome for characters we love?

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