Madeline lives in Cambridge, in an attic flat with her mother. She spends her days being home schooled with two friends and wandering about the city on her bike.
Elliot lives in Bonfire, in the kingdom of Cello. Although he has a comfortable life in his small town, his thoughts are filled with his missing father, whom he is determined to find.
In between Elliott's fantastic world where Colors are your enemy and Madeline's gray Cambridge life, there is a crack. A crack just big enough for a slip of paper to fit through. And on a bike ride one day, Madeline sees that paper and a correspondence begins between these two worlds. It isn't long before they realize that they have much more in common than they think and even Issac Newton couldn't have guessed where their shared thoughts will lead.
Isaac Newton is a part of this story. So are quiz shows and lost parents and first loves and torn friendships and loyalty and missing persons and crazy-newspaper-column-writing-princesses. I listened to the audiobook of this and was absolutely delighted with that choice. The different narrators did a spot-on job separating all the different kinds of text for me - and the girl who narrated that princess was laugh-out-loud hilarious. I liked how variable the listening was, a super pleasant experience.
Not only that, but this is just an awesome story. Thought provoking and magical while at the same time solid and supportive of those who are curious - who want to see more than what is just in front of them. Madeline is a very real character - complex and empathetic, her sections were particularly literary sometimes. She made me think and wonder and I found find myself wanting to know who she was and what she could become.
And even MORE than THAT - the last fifteen minutes of this book completely turned the entire story on its head and WOW do I love when that happens! Instead of feeling tricked I felt wonderfully surprised and intrigued. I can't wait to see what happens next to Madeline and Elliot. Even though a few spots got a little slow, I don't know if I could even pick out a spot to change. Loved it.
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3 comments:
I loved this too! I'm so glad I know someone else who has read it. I'm not a "series" reader...but can't wait til the next one!
I've had this for a while and you've made me want to grab it out of the stack and read it right now.
I loved the bug ending where every small detail came together! I also loved the way the last setence confirms my thoughts to read the second book!
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