When my daughters first began to read independently, I tried to screen which books made it into our home and into their hands. I wanted only wholesome books that entertained while showing respect for life, appreciation of beauty, and preference for goodness over evil. It wasn't long, though, before they began choosing their own books and their appetites for reading quickly outstripped my ability to keep up. I had to let go and trust their instincts for picking good books. Also, as they grew older, they were increasingly able to absorb and move on from bad books. That doesn't mean that I don't continue to come home from the library with a stack that I've selected for them, or ask them lots of questions about what they are reading. And, once in a while, I do like to pick up something they're reading and check it out for myself.

This week I read Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. My sister had recommended it from her mother-daughter book group, and I checked it out of the library for my thirteen-year old. She liked it, so I decided to crack it open. The main character is a fifteen-year old girl named Liz who begins Chapter One by dying in a hit-and-run bicycle accident. She travels by boat to Elsewhere along with all the other people who have recently died and is met at the dock by her maternal grandmother, who died before Liz was born. Grandmother Betty is in her thirties, even though she died at fifty, because in Elsewhere you live backwards, growing younger every year until you are a baby again and make the trip back to Earth to start a new life.

The premise of the book is unusual, and at times gave me the same creepy feeling I had while watching the movie about Benjamin Button, in which the main character was born old and grew young. While I could sympathize with Liz's struggles between holding on to her life and embracing her death/life on Elsewhere, I never quite bought into the concept nor became attached to any of the characters. Having said that, I did shed tears at a few points and found myself wondering What if...Also, the ability of humans to converse with dogs in Canine was cool.

I definitely think this book is appropriate for only a mature 12-yr. old and up, due to some mature topics. While I didn't race to finish it, I did feel like it made me think about life in a different, topsy-turvy way--and that's always a good thing. When I turned the last page, I felt warm and fuzzy and complete, yet looser in my outlook somehow.