Audience: Grades 4 & up

Format: Hardcover/Library copy

 

Dear Library Board,

Enclosed is my contribution to the Wolf Creek Community Time Capsule Project.

- opening lines

 

 

Wolf Creek is located in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. The town is built around a maximum-security prison and most of the residents have a least one family member working there. The book is told from the point of view of three seventh graders. Nora’s dad is the superintendent, Lizzie’s grandmother works in the kitchen, and Elidee’s brother is an inmate. Nora and Lizzie are best friends and Elidee just moved there when she didn’t get into a private school in New York City. Elidee’s mom wanted to be closer to her brother to make it easier for them to visit him. The townspeople are mostly white and the inmate population is mostly black and Latinx. Elidee is at first standoffish but she eventually becomes friendly with Nora and Lizzie. Nora and Lizzie are surprised at the way the townspeople treat Elidee and how different it is from how they are treated. A couple of inmates escape from the prison and the action revolves around how the manhunt affects life in the town. The story is told through contributions to a time-capsule project for school. The contributions include letters, press clippings, text messages, and transcribed voice recordings.

 

There are dangerous and suspenseful situations, and some shooting, but no overt violence. Nora & Lizzie learn about racism and try to decide how they feel about it and how to stand up for Elidee. Elidee works through her complicated feelings about the town, her brother, and everything else by writing poetry. Issues about our justice system and racial bias are explored in an accessible and sensitive manner.

 

He was too young for her. A decade too young.

 

Rebecca Stravokraus was the premier publicist in the professional sports. She was extremely smart, capable, and could spin a story like a spider spins its web. She also didn’t lack in confidence.

 

But there was one thing she couldn’t do.

 

L.O.V.E.

 

It was the ultimate dirty word, the one emotion that made men, women, and all variations in between turned into possessed, insane beings.

 

Humanity was not built to love. They were built to work, to play hockey, to fuc—

 

Cough. To have a great time between the sheets.

 

That was enough—it had been enough.

 

Until Kevin declared that Rebecca was what he wanted, until they spent several glorious nights in bed together . . . until she began to feel.

 

That couldn’t be. Not now. Not in the future. Not ever.

 

But Kevin had decided on her and if there was one thing she’d learned about stubborn, alpha hockey players, it was that they didn’t give up.

 

About the Author:

 

USA Today bestselling author, Elise Faber, loves chocolate, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and hockey (the order depending on the day and how well her team -- the Sharks! -- are playing). She and her husband also play as much hockey as they can squeeze into their schedules, so much so that their typical date night is spent on the ice. Elise is the mom to two exuberant boys and lives in Northern California. Connect with her in her Facebook group, the Fabinators or find more information about her books at www.elisefaber.com.

 

Connect with Elise!

 

Website: https://www.elisefaber.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elisefaberauthor

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/elisefaber

Twitter: https://twitter.com/faberelise

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bdnmEj

Bookbub: http://bit.ly/2Ilspyd

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakout is more than just a May/December romance. It is a journey of self discovery that tugs at your emotions. Faber delves deep into the insecurities that plague the human psyche. Through the eyes of Rebecca and Kevin, we learn what it means to be courageous, how it feels to be vulnerable and what it means to fall in love. From sensory overload to impactive emotion, Breakout is in a class all it's own.

Squarely aimed at the middle grade reader, this is an earnest story about community, race, cross country racing and the prison industry that gets didactic, but I think it will work for its intended audience, and it's not unaware of its tone. I will find out after the book discussion later this month how actual middle school age kids react to the book - ones that are from a much more urban environment than Nora and Lizzie, though. It could have used more editing for sure - even with the format of letters and texts, it drags, and the framing of it being a time capsule project is stretched thin and kind of not needed? It could have been prose with texts and stuff added in.

It was a bit too much.

 

The characters lost a bit of the gritty touch they had throughout 2,5 books. So I deduct half a star for the "let's have them be happy ever after" a bit too hard.

 

But I definitely felt great for Dred and Jael and their crew to have their happy ending.

 

It just felt a bit off, too sweet, too perfect.

They are not sweet people. Not perfect. 

 

Still a great book, a great story.