Everywhere Blue, Joanne Rossmassler Fritz
Everywhere Blue, Joanne Rossmassler Fritz
List: $8.99 | Sale: $6.30
Club: $4.49

Everywhere Blue

Author: Joanne Rossmassler Fritz

Narrator: Carly Robins

Unabridged: 3 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/17/2021


Synopsis

A brother's disappearance turns one family upside down, revealing painful secrets that threaten the life they've always known.

When twelve-year-old Maddie's older brother vanishes from his college campus, her carefully ordered world falls apart. Nothing will fill the void of her beloved oldest sibling. Meanwhile Maddie's older sister reacts by staying out late, and her parents are always distracted by the search for Strum. Drowning in grief and confusion, the family's musical household falls silent.

Though Maddie is the youngest, she knows Strum better than anyone. He used to confide in her, sharing his fears about the climate crisis and their planet's future. So, Maddie starts looking for clues: Was Strum unhappy? Were the arguments with their dad getting worse? Or could his disappearance have something to do with those endangered butterflies he loved . . .

Scared and on her own, Maddie picks up the pieces of her family's fractured lives. Maybe her parents aren't who she thought they were. Maybe her nervous thoughts and compulsive counting mean she needs help. And maybe finding Strum won't solve everything—but she knows he's out there, and she has to try.

About Joanne Rossmassler Fritz

Joanne Rossmassler Fritz is a poet and a member of SCBWI. She developed her love of children's books by working at a school library, the independent bookstore Chester County Book and Music Company, and at a publishing company. She and her husband live outside West Chester, Pennsylvania. Everywhere Blue is her debut novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Alysa

Lyrical, musical, and heart-wrenching, EVERYWHERE BLUE is a moving portrait of a family coming apart after a loss, and a 12yo girl's quest to keep her heart together. This beautiful novel in verse begins when Maddie's older brother, Strum-- and her closest ally in the family-- goes missing. With her......more

Goodreads review by Katia

While I used to love verse novels and middle grade, I'll be honest, that's not where my brain and heart are at the moment. Right now I want gritty, adult, dark YA, or laugh out loud funny. I want thrillers and weird and spooky and dizzying sci fi. And yet. This book managed to STILL go ahead and sne......more

Even though this novel-in-verse seems centered on the sudden disappearance of the protagonist's brother, I found it to be a beautiful coming-of-age story. The writing is lyrical, the character development is solid, and I really enjoyed the themes. It was interesting seeing how different people in Mad......more

Goodreads review by Sam

This novel-in-verse powerfully explores family, belonging, and loss when the main character's older brother simply disappears one day without a trace. I particularly loved how Madrigal's emotions played out as an orchestra in her head as she struggles to deal with ensuing events, using music to atte......more