Becky Citra - After the Fire



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Illustrated by:

ISBN:
978-1-55469-246-0

Publisher:
Orca Book Publishers

Pub Date:
April 2010

Price:
$ 9.95

After the Fire

Ages 9 - 13

186 pages, 21 chapters

The Ellie and Max series

The Story

At first, relief flooded her. Nobody in sight - just the bare grey rock gleaming in the hot sun. Then she spotted the blue canoe floating in the reeds. Before Melissa could turn around, someone waded out of the shade cast by the low boughs of a tree overhanging the water. It was a girl in a red bathing suit, standing waist deep. She had long blond hair that hung down her back and a thin pointed face. She didn't look at all surprised to see Melissa. In fact, Melissa thought afterward, it was as if she had expected her. When she spoke, her voice was firm and confident. "Do you come in peace or war?" she said. "What?" said Melissa. Her cheeks turned hot with confusion. The girl's light hazel eyes stared at Melissa steadily. "Are you friend or foe?"

Melissa is waiting for the "new life" that her mother Sharlene has promised her since a fire devastated their family. But nothing ever seems to change. Melissa has difficulty making friends at school, they never have enough money and her little brother Cody is demanding. When Sharlene announces that they will be spending the month of August at a remote cabin on a wilderness lake, Melissa is horrified. Desperate to escape her mother and little brother, Melissa canoes to an island in the middle of the lake where she meets Alice, a strange girl with stories of her "perfect family". Melissa is envious at first and then frightened as Alice draws her deeper into a dangerous fantasy world where nothing is at it seems.

What people are saying about After the Fire

Prolific B.C. author Becky Citra has produced yet another winning novel for young readers that is engaging, interesting and full of true to life situations. . . What makes After the Fire a special book is that Citra depicts a family that deviates from the upper middle-class norm without making its lower class socio-economic status a big deal. . . Citra imparts the details of Melissa's life in a straightforward manner, allowing the reader to absorb her circumstances without a sense of bombardment. It's a delicate balance, the nuances of which will likely be unnoticed by the target audience, but which nonetheless contribute to the overall quality of the book.

2010Quill and Quire July/August 2010

A delicious summer read . . . Citra delivers a poignant well-paced story about family and friendship and how they are molded by traumatic events. Pre-teen and teen girls will recognize and relate to the power struggles and tensions that Melissa experiences both with her mother and with Alice. Citra manages to weave heavy topics into the story naturally, including alcoholism, poverty, cancer, suicide, death and depression. She balances the ever constant threat of danger, symbolized by the spreading forest fires in the area, with the peaceful setting of a luscious Canadian lake in mid-summer. . . The book wraps with a satisfying and hopeful ending that affirms the human capability to persist and succeed through the hardships and difficulties that life may present - an ideal recommendation for girls looking to read through the long summer nights.

CM Volume XVI Number 34 May, 2010

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