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The Second Life Of Abigail Walker (2012)

by Frances O'Roark Dowell(Favorite Author)

3.47 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1442405937 (ISBN13: 9781442405936)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Atheneum Books for Young Readers

review 1: It seemed like this book couldn't decide what it wanted to be: bullying? fantasy? PTSD? It just didn't meld that together for me. The saddest part was that Abigail seemed so detached from her parents. I expected some resolution with her dad, which didn't happen. Why didn't she just tell her parents the truth about some simple things Kristen did to her? How did she obtain all of her cached candy? The fox was a weird dimension; what effect did its bite really have? Was there really a fox? I think this would be confusing to students. However, I saw a student returning the book to our library, asked her how she liked it, and her reply was, "I loved it!" Who am I to judge? After all, the passage that made me laugh the most was when the fox compared the mean "medium" girls... more to weasels.
review 2: Fitting in is tough. Especially in middle school. When Abby's best friend, Claudia moves away, she struggles to find a friend who accepts her. She tries to fit in with the "medium" girls, but Abby finds that she can't be herself around them. Through a random encounter with a fox and a home-schooled boy named Anders and his family, Abby realizes that it is okay to be who you are and she makes new friends who accept her. However, not without the "mediums" making life difficult. This is a good read aloud to discuss fitting in, cliques, bullying, etc. with upper elementary and middle school students. less

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