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Alice by Heart
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published:
Penguin Young Readers Group 2020
Lexile measure:
HL: High-Low 710L
Status:
Checked Out
Description
A young girl takes refuge in a London Tube station during WWII and confronts grief, loss, and first love with the help of her favorite book, Alice in Wonderland, in the debut novel from Tony Award-winning playwright Steven Sater.
London, 1940. Amidst the rubble of the Blitz of World War II, fifteen-year-old Alice Spencer and her best friend, Alfred, are forced to take shelter in an underground tube station. Sick with tuberculosis, Alfred is quarantined, with doctors saying he won't make it through the night. In her desperation to keep him holding on, Alice turns to their favorite pastime: recalling the book that bonded them, and telling the story that she knows by heart—the story of Alice in Wonderland.
What follows is a stunning, fantastical journey that blends Alice's two worlds: her war-ravaged homeland being held together by nurses and soldiers and Winston Churchill, and her beloved Wonderland, a welcome distraction from the bombs and the death, but a place where one rule always applies: the pages must keep turning. But then the lines between these two worlds begin to blur. Is that a militant Red Cross Nurse demanding that Alice get BACK. TO. HER. BED!, or is it the infamous Queen of Hearts saying...something about her head? Soon, Alice must decide whether to stay in Wonderland forever, or embrace the pain of reality if that's what it means to grow up.
In this gorgeous YA adaption of his off-Broadway musical, the Tony Award-winning co-creator of Spring Awakening encourages us all to celebrate the transformational power of the imagination, even in the harshest of times.
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More Details
Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
02/04/2020
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780451478153
ASIN:
B07T8SDS3H
Lexile code:
HL: High-Low
Lexile measure:
710
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Steven Sater. (2020). Alice by Heart. Penguin Young Readers Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Steven Sater. 2020. Alice By Heart. Penguin Young Readers Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Steven Sater, Alice By Heart. Penguin Young Readers Group, 2020.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Steven Sater. Alice By Heart. Penguin Young Readers Group, 2020.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
Copy Details
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Shared Digital Collection00
Staff View
Grouped Work ID:
1a860dac-600b-2104-6933-60a1868e3cc3
Go To Grouped Work
Needs Update?:
No
Date Added:
Jan 31, 2020 15:26:20
Date Updated:
Jan 31, 2020 15:26:20
Last Metadata Check:
Aug 27, 2023 14:33:15
Last Metadata Change:
Jul 24, 2023 20:51:22
Last Availability Check:
Apr 14, 2024 13:30:25
Last Availability Change:
Aug 28, 2023 00:48:40
Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
Apr 16, 2024 02:11:58

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      • value: War
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      • value: alice in wonderland
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      • value: twisted fairy tales
      • value: teen books for girls
      • value: teen girl books
      • value: books for 12 year old boys
      • value: teen fiction books
      • value: books for 12 year old girls
      • value: books for 13 year old girls
      • value: realistic fiction books for kids 12-15
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title
Alice by Heart
fullDescription
A young girl takes refuge in a London Tube station during WWII and confronts grief, loss, and first love with the help of her favorite book, Alice in Wonderland, in the debut novel from Tony Award-winning playwright Steven Sater.
London, 1940. Amidst the rubble of the Blitz of World War II, fifteen-year-old Alice Spencer and her best friend, Alfred, are forced to take shelter in an underground tube station. Sick with tuberculosis, Alfred is quarantined, with doctors saying he won't make it through the night. In her desperation to keep him holding on, Alice turns to their favorite pastime: recalling the book that bonded them, and telling the story that she knows by heart—the story of Alice in Wonderland.
What follows is a stunning, fantastical journey that blends Alice's two worlds: her war-ravaged homeland being held together by nurses and soldiers and Winston Churchill, and her beloved Wonderland, a welcome distraction from the bombs and the death, but a place where one rule always applies: the pages must keep turning. But then the lines between these two worlds begin to blur. Is that a militant Red Cross Nurse demanding that Alice get BACK. TO. HER. BED!, or is it the infamous Queen of Hearts saying...something about her head? Soon, Alice must decide whether to stay in Wonderland forever, or embrace the pain of reality if that's what it means to grow up.
In this gorgeous YA adaption of his off-Broadway musical, the Tony Award-winning co-creator of Spring Awakening encourages us all to celebrate the transformational power of the imagination, even in the harshest of times.
gradeLevels
      • value: Grade 3
reviews
      • premium: True
      • source: School Library Journal
      • content:

        December 1, 2019

        Gr 7 Up-Fifteen-year-old Alice Spencer and her best friend Alfred have been inseparable for many years. Having first bonded over Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, the two continue to find joy in sharing and acting out the book they know by heart. This escape from reality becomes especially meaningful as Alfred's body is weakened from tuberculosis. However, when their neighborhood is ravaged by the bombs of World War II, the two must take refuge with other traumatized children in London's Underground. As Alfred's condition rapidly worsens, the dispassionate medical staff quarantine him. Feeling helpless, Alice becomes determined to reach Alfred, and her obsession with bringing Wonderland to him again causes reality and fantasy to bleed together. The contrast of the stark reality of wartime London with the bizarre landscape of Wonderland is intriguing, especially when the two worlds begin to merge. Likewise, many descriptive lines in the book are gorgeously poetic. However, the stream-of-consciousness writing style and constant shifting from past to present, and from reality to fantasy, can make this a frustrating read. The dreamlike quality of the narrative leaves readers unsure of what is going on beyond a certainty that none of it will end well. VERDICT Recommended for true fans of Lewis Carroll's original novel and of nontraditional wartime stories, though it may be too disjointed for casual readers to enjoy.-Lara Goldstein, Orange County Public Libraries, NC

        Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        December 1, 2019
        A World War II-era girl escapes the harsh reality of the Blitzkrieg through stories from her childhood favorite, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. As Alice Spencer hides out from bombings on a London Underground platform, crammed into a too-small and squalid space and cared for by nurses and doctors who seem impersonal to the point of cruelty, all she can think about is her friend Alfred, quarantined in another part of the platform. A domineering Red Cross nurse keeps them apart, but Alice finds respite in retelling the Wonderland stories to herself and remembering the bucolic days when she and Alfred would act out scenes together. Wonderland and war blur together until Alice must decide which world is truly worth living in. Playwright and lyricist Sater (A Purple Summer, 2012, etc.) thoughtfully explores the parallels between Lewis Carroll's topsy-turvy universe and the surreality of life in wartime; the novel is an adaptation of his existing off-Broadway musical of the same name, and it is easy for readers to imagine a lush theatrical rendition of the visuals and themes at hand. However, the novel reads like a consolation prize for those unable to attend the real show; the prose is long-winded, complacent, and solipsistic, and the story progresses at a deathly slow pace. All major characters are white. Reads like a playbill; save your attention for the musical. (author's note, musical credits, photo credits) (Fabulism. 14-18)

        COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        December 16, 2019
        In Sater’s debut novel, an adaptation of the playwright’s musical of the same name, 15-year-old Alice Spencer finds solace from a nightmarishly claustrophobic London Underground bunker during the WWII Blitz by remembering her favorite book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Sater effectively sketches pervasive anxiety, not only about the bombings but also Alice’s concern about her desperately sick best friend; Alfred battles tuberculosis, quarantined in an adjoining area and tended by imperious nurses and doctors. In order to bring them both comfort, Alice begins to retell and reimagine their shared favorite book. Though the slow unspooling heightens the stifling atmosphere, the writing can feel overly flowery and the pace, rambling. The narrative features historical photographs, such as people sleeping on a Tube escalator and nurses wearing gas masks, that underscore the wartime realities and contrast the original volume’s illustrations. Though this novel is adapted from a play, its narrative lacks propulsive drama. Ages 12–up.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        January 1, 2020
        Grades 7-10 Alice remembers a time before the war, before she was trapped in an underground bunker waiting out the air raids, waiting for the world to return to normal. And normal for her meant sharing the stories of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with her best friend Alfred. Though Alfred is with her in the bunker, tuberculosis threatens to separate them forever, unless, through remembering the stories, they can get back to Wonderland together. Sater's debut novel, based on his off-Broadway musical of the same name, is a heartbreaking story of the power of narrative and the power of denial, palpably depicted through Alice's desperation to live in the past. As the line between reality and fantasy blurs for her, it grows fuzzy for the reader as well, until Wonderland is no longer a metaphor for 1940s Alice's situation, but an echo of it. Adeptly capturing a universal feeling of painful nostalgia, this is perfect for fans of Lewis Carroll's classic or readers simply drawn to wartime historical fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

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shortDescription
A young girl takes refuge in a London Tube station during WWII and confronts grief, loss, and first love with the help of her favorite book, Alice in Wonderland, in the debut novel from Tony Award-winning playwright Steven Sater.
London, 1940. Amidst the rubble of the Blitz of World War II, fifteen-year-old Alice Spencer and her best friend, Alfred, are forced to take shelter in an underground tube station. Sick with tuberculosis, Alfred is quarantined, with doctors saying he won't make it through the night. In her desperation to keep him holding on, Alice turns to their favorite pastime: recalling the book that bonded them, and telling the story that she knows by heart—the story of Alice in Wonderland.
What follows is a stunning, fantastical journey that blends Alice's two worlds: her war-ravaged homeland being held together by nurses and soldiers and Winston Churchill, and her beloved Wonderland, a welcome distraction from the bombs and the death, but...
sortTitle
Alice by Heart
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publisher
Penguin Young Readers Group
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