Published: 2021
Series: Alone
Author: Megan E. Freeman
Genres: Middle Grade, Poetry, Survival, Fiction, Dystopia, Young Adult, Adventure, Novel In Verse, Realistic Fiction
Audience (Grade Levels): Grades 5-9
Number of Stars: 5-Stars
Goodreads Link: Alone
Triggers: Abandonment, extreme isolation, natural disasters, encounters with looters and wild animals
Review By: Margaret Elliott
Publisher’s Summary
When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.
With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.
As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie’s most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day. Can Maddie’s stubborn will to survive carry her through the most frightening experience of her life?
Review
This novel in verse is a fantastic way to introduce survival and adventure readers to a different format. This book is fast-paced and should hook reluctant readers despite the fact that it is over 400 pages. You will be rooting for Maddie the whole time. The only real downside to this book is that the reader never discovers the reason the town has been evacuated. Some readers may feel that this lends a slightly dystopian feel to the books since it is left up to an individual’s imagination. Other readers will be frustrated by not having all the answers. When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone—left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.
With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.
As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie’s most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day. Can Maddie’s stubborn will to survive carry her through the most frightening experience of her life?
Classroom & Curricular Connections
- ELA / Poetry and Format Studies: This book serves as a perfect mentor text for introducing students to novels in verse. It demonstrates how poetic pacing, line breaks, and imagery can build high-stakes tension and emotional depth in a long-form narrative, making a 400+ page book highly accessible to reluctant readers.
- SEL (Social-Emotional Learning): Connects deeply to lessons on self-reliance, resilience, problem-solving, and managing extreme loneliness or emotional isolation. Maddie’s journey models how inner strength and ingenuity can carry a person through frightening and unexpected life alterations.
- Social Studies / Critical Thinking: The unexplained evacuation opens up excellent avenues for brainstorming and analyzing societal infrastructure, emergency preparedness, and the psychological impacts of community displacement.
Diversity & Representation
The book offers a meaningful exploration of individual capability and age-based agency, subverting the trope of the helpless child by showcasing a twelve-year-old girl relying entirely on her own intelligence, literacy, and practical ingenuity to survive. Maddie’s profound reliance on books as companions also beautifully emphasizes the inclusive, life-saving power of literature during times of deep emotional isolation.
Readalikes
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
- The Canyon’s Edge by Dusti Bowling
- House Arrest by K.A. Holt
