My New Favorite Book

In a sincere, elegant voice, Author Gabrielle Zevin creates an extraordinary story about the life that continues after we die. I'm so excited having found this book that I can't describe it without gushing, so I stole this from the author's website:

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, get her driver's license, fall in love, go to college . . . How can she let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible to grow up while getting younger?

Okay, I'm back and I just realized something. The last time I blogged about a book, it was Erica Orloff's Do They Wear High Heels in Heaven? I'm not obsessed with death. In fact these novels aren't really about death; they are about life and love.

Anyway, I do read and enjoy other books. But these stories lit the fire in me; they made me forget all the things I know about writing (not that I'm a Shaolin master of writing or anything, but you know what I mean) and just fall into the story. I even teared up at the end and gave the Little Dude a kiss.

I'm tellin' ya man, some of the best writing is happening in young adult. If you're looking for something fresh and thought provoking, get this book.