Elsewhere

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Where to find it

Information & Library Science Library — Juvenile

Call Number
J Zevin
Status
Available

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Summary

Is it possible to grow up while getting younger?

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It's quiet and peaceful. You can't get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere's museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe's psychiatric practice. nbsp; Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver's license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she's dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn't want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward? This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned. nbsp; Elsewhere is a 2006 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Contents

The Nile -- At sea -- Curtis Jest -- In memory of Elizabeth Marie Hall -- The book of the dead -- Welcome to elsewhere -- A long drive home -- Waking -- A circle and a line -- Last words -- Sightseeing -- Lucky cab -- The big dive -- Sadie -- The well -- A piece of string -- Owen Welles takes a dive -- Thanksgiving -- A mystery -- Liz in love -- Arrivals -- The sneaker clause -- To earth -- At the bottom of the ocean, in the land between elsewhere and earth -- Restoration -- Antique lands -- Time passes -- Two weddings -- The change -- Amadou -- Childhood -- Birth -- What Liz thinks.

Sample chapter

From Elsewhere "It can be particularly difficult for young people to realize they are dead," Aldous says. "Why is that?" "Young people tend to think they're immortal. Many of them can't conceive of themselves as dead, Elizabeth." Aldous proceeds to go through all the things Liz would have to do in the next several months. Dying seems to entail a great deal more work than Liz initially thought. In a way, dying isn't that different from school. "Have you put any thought into an avocation?" Aldous asks her. Liz shrugs. "Not really. I didn't really have a job on Earth, because I was still in school.' "Oh no no no," Aldous says, "an avocation is not a job. A job has to do with prestige! Money! An avocation is something a person does to make their soul complete." Liz rolls her eyes. "I see by your expression you don't believe me," Aldous says. "It appears I've got a fourteen-year-old cynic on my hands." "Fifteen," Liz corrects him. "Is there anything you particularly loved on Earth?" Liz shrugs. "Anything, anything at all?" "Animals, maybe something with animals or dogs," Liz says finally, thinking of her prized pug, Lucy, back on Earth. "Marvelous!" crows Aldous. "I'm sure I could find you something fabulous to do with dogs!" Excerpted from Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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