Eventown by Corey Ann Haydu

Elodee and Naomi are twin sisters, good friends and girls with so much in common but over the course of the next few weeks and months we watch them grow apart. The family have been living in Juniper but after a visit to Eventown they decide to move. There is a hint early on that the family need a new start, but you need to read the whole book to discover why.

Naomi is good at gymnastics and good at 'fitting in'. Elodee loves to experiment with cooking. She watches her sister and wonders why Naomi now copies the clothes and behaviours of her new friends. Why have they become so different?

Eventown is a very strange place - well as a reader you are sure to think it is strange - but it takes quite a while for Elodee to realise this. I think the turning point comes when the girls finally visit the town library. More about that in a minute. Before this scene we read that there are only three ice cream flavours which are on rotation; every garden in the town has an identical manicured yard with perfect rose bushes; there is no internet and no television; no cars; and it never rains and every day ends with a perfect sunset. In the music class at school the students only play one song - the same song - week after week and when Elodee questions this she seems to get into trouble with the teacher.

Now onto the library:

"Naomi likes books about animals and magic. I like books about people and food, so we go to the cooking section and the animal section and the fantasy section and choose titles that sound right. We have a mix of everything we love. ... We open one book each. 

I turn a page.

Then another.

Another.

Another.

They are blank.

I flip through the whole book. Every page is blank. It is a book of blank pages. A book of nothing. ... I pick up another book. Blank pages. Over a hundred of them."

Apart from all of this though, there is a deeply sinister layer to this story. Every member of the family has to go to the Welcome Centre. When Elodee has her turn, we discover this is all about telling stories - there are six stories. Your most scared moment; your most embarrassed moment; your most heartbreaking moment; your loneliest moment; your angriest moment and your most joyful moment.

BUT something goes wrong, and Elodee only tells three of her stories. AND even worse once the stories are told, the teller has no memory of them - the stories are lost forever. Why? 

Eventown is at times a heart breaking and difficult book to read. I did have to keep stopping to take a breath. I would recommend this book for mature readers aged 11+. I don't want to spoil the ending but the final reveal about why the family needed to move could worry or upset some readers. Having said that please do not skip to the end if you are reading this book - let Corey Ann Haydu take you on her compelling journey. 

Here are some text quotes to give you an idea about this story:

"I haven't thought to look around to see what else we aren't bringing, but do it now with Naomi, running from room to room to see what's left behind. Mom's not bringing her old-timey record player or all the records she's collected over the years ... She's leaving behind shelves of books and a bunch of framed photographs of the family ... She's leaving behind all our winter coats and hats and scarves, our silver sled and a painting of the sun that has been in our living room forever."

"When mum and Naomi get back from grocery shopping I get right to work, and the cooking comes easily. The instructions are clear, and following the recipe feels like a dance with the kitchen. The result is incredible. The chicken is golden brown, crispy on the outside and buttery on the inside. ... I've never made anything this delicious. ... The recipes I invented back in our old kitchen in Juniper were never like this."

"And we're hoping we can learn a little more about your life before today. Part of our welcoming you here to town is making sure you're able to start fresh here in Eventown. We want to help you say goodbye to everything that made life before hard ... "

Here are some quotes from the review by Betsy Bird for SLJ. Do click the link Besty's review is fabulous:

In Eventown by Corey Ann Haydu, you’ll find a marvelous defense of messiness, mistakes, and uncomfortable conversations. We all want to run away from our problems, but it’s like that old phrase says: Be careful what you wish for. ... Need a novel for 9-12 year olds that epitomizes the very definition of “foreshadowing”? Meet my little friend here. It knows that some of the most effective horror comes from the people we love the most. Elodee’s whole family has drunk the Eventown Kool-Aid without so much as a blink, but she doesn’t see that for a long time.

Betsy refers to this book:

Orphan Island

Publisher blurb: The world tilted for Elodee this year, and now it’s impossible for her to be the same as she was before. Not when her feelings have such a strong grip on her heart. Not when she and her twin sister, Naomi, seem to be drifting apart. So when Elodee’s mom gets a new job in Eventown, moving seems like it might just fix everything. Indeed, life in Eventown is comforting and exciting all at once. Their kitchen comes with a box of recipes for Elodee to try. Everyone takes the scenic way to school or work—past rows of rosebushes and unexpected waterfalls. On blueberry-picking field trips, every berry is perfectly ripe. Sure, there are a few odd rules, and the houses all look exactly alike, but it’s easy enough to explain—until Elodee realizes that there are only three ice cream flavors in Eventown. Ever. And they play only one song in music class. Everything may be “even” in Eventown, but is there a price to pay for perfection—and pretending?

Part mystery, part fabulism, with a dash of dystopia, this story is as layered and delicious as one of Elodee’s concoctions. At once enchanting, heart-rending, and bittersweet ... Kirkus Star review

Website for Corey Ann Haydu. I am keen to hunt out more of her books. 

Awards:

• A Kirkus Best of 2019 Selection
• A Junior Library Guild Selection
• An Amazon Best Books of the Month Selection
• A School Library Journal Best Book of 2021
• Edgar Award Nominee

Eventown reminded me of movies like The Truman Show; The Stepford wives and Pleasantville.

Companion books:

The probability of Everything

Right as Rain