Alicia Afterimage by Lulu Delacre
Review by Erica Moore
Alicia is 16 years old when she is killed in a single car accident. Memories and stories from friends and family are woven together to paint a picture of Alicia’s life. Each chapter is titled after a particular person. Friends talk about how Alicia’s life and death impacted them. Throughout the book are muted line drawings and a sheet of memorial notes from students in yearbook style. The cover art reflects nicely the format of the book with a Chuck Close style self-portrait Alicia created when she was 15. Many seemingly separate parts complete a whole picture or person.
Alicia’s mother is the author, and most of the line drawings, collages, and photos in the book were created by Alicia. This makes it very personal. The story is approachable and would be helpful to teens wrestling with a similar tragedy. An afterimage is what Alicia’s mother sees for many months whenever she closes her eyes. She sees an outline form of Alicia. This is a real phenomenon and inspired the title of the book.
The writing is a little uneven and the narrator is strong so that there isn’t much change in voice between the many friends and family members. The story is told instead of the reader living it through the friends of Alicia. This distancing might be what keeps it from being too sad for readers.
The book is fiction because some of the accounts have been changed for the flow of the story. However, it reads as a true experience and there is an appendix and a photo of Alicia.
What Other Bloggers Are Saying:
Write for a Reader: "This is a great book for young adults, because the loss of a classmate is so prevalent these days. We can not shield our children from death, as much as we’d like to, and grief is real, even in high school students." (read more...)
More Info:
- Hardcover: 144 pages
- Publisher: Lee & Low Books (September 30, 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1600602428
- ISBN-13: 978-1600602429
- Source: Review copy from publisher
I'm going to have to read this! In the meanwhile, this is for you:
ReplyDeletehttp://1330v.blogspot.com/2009/01/premio-darios-award.html
Vasilly
Thank you for reviewing the book.
ReplyDeleteMay I make a correction? I am an illustrator as well as an author. However, none of the images that appear in the book were created by me. Most all of the line drawings, collages, and photos were created by Alicia. The cover painting in the style of Chuck Close is a self-portrait created by Alicia when she was fifteen-years-old.
This information appears on the copyright page. What I did was to carefully select the images that were to appear in the book.
Ms. Delacre,
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing out the correction. I corrected the review, and I apologize for the mistake.
Best,
Jill