Adelade Buchwald had a very close relationship with her younger brother Toby, until their family is ripped apart by Toby's drug addiction. Her mother must stay in a separate city to support Toby in rehab, while Adelade and her father move in to the boarding school where her father teaches English. Despite the sadness over her brother's addiction and family separation, she develops a deep love for Mikey LL, trying to hide from him these feelings. The story starts with her emotional wreckage after Mikey breaks up with her when he leaves for Puerto Rico for the summer. She takes on a summer job walking dogs belonging to several of her school's teachers. On one of her walks she meets Jack, whom she adulates over and develops a new love. The love is made difficult by the hurt from Mikey's breakup and the sadness from her family.
Adelade Buchwald loves to be in love, but love for Adelade is elusive. In Again Again, we see how her relationships play out in different ways. Perhaps each version reveals how a situation exists in multiple universes, or perhaps, we see how multiple situations play out for Adelade in her mind, before she actually takes action. It sounds complicated, but actually the font changes between what is thought to happen, and what actually happens. The real surprise comes in part IV.
Adelade is a very bright girl, attending a snooty, upper-crust eastern boarding school. Her issues are very first world, but painful for her none-the-less. The writing is rich, but sometimes breaks into free verse. Its not clear why Lockhart does this...for emphasis? The alternative situations are interesting, especially when you see how the situation eventually plays out. Definitely a high school read, but you could offer it to a mature 8th grader.
Mark's Book Picks Score: 3.5
Reading Level: 5.0 • Interest Level: 7-12 • AR Points: NA • Lexile Level: HL680L • Publisher: Random House • Pages: 288 • Copyright: 2020 • ISBN: 978-0-385-74480-5 • Available in Perma-Bound Binding 6/15/21
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