Closer to Nowhere
- Authors: Ellen Hopkins
- Series:
- Type: Novel
- Genres: Children's Fiction
- Rank:Top 500 in Best Stories in Verse on Amazon
- Rating: 4.8 based on 440 reviews
- Release Date: October 6, 2020
- Print length: 416 pages (Hardcover)
About the book
#1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins's poignant middle grade novel in verse about coming to terms with indelible truths of family and belonging.
For the most part, Hannah's life is just how she wants it. She has two supportive parents, she's popular at school, and she's been killing it at gymnastics. But when her cousin Cal moves in with her family, everything changes. Cal tells half-truths and tall tales, pranks Hannah constantly, and seems to be the reason her parents are fighting more and more. Nothing is how it used to be. She knows that Cal went through a lot after his mom died and she is trying to be patient, but most days Hannah just wishes Cal never moved in.
For his part, Cal is trying his hardest to fit in, but not everyone is as appreciative of his unique sense of humor and storytelling gifts as he is. Humor and stories might be his defense mechanism, but if Cal doesn't let his walls down soon, he might push away the very people who are trying their best to love him.
Told in verse from the alternating perspectives of Hannah and Cal, this is a story of two cousins who are more alike than they realize and the family they both want to save.
Accolades
Praise for Closer to Nowhere
There’s a new crowd of Ellen Hopkins fans on the horizon! Hopkins tackles tough subjects with honesty and compassion, woven in brilliant verse as always, now in a novel for younger readers.
One of the biggest challenges a middle-grade author faces is the middle-grade reader. This is the age when childhood and young adulthood so violently clash within you, even YOU aren’t sure how to find your voice. With Cal and Hannah, Ellen Hopkins tells middle-grade readers: I see you. I hear you. And your voice is powerful... even as it evolves. Closer to Nowhere is raw, but real. It’s love, but tough. It IS middle grade, and it is a gift for readers everywhere.
The queen of gritty YA novels-in-verse enters the realm of middle-grade literature with this story of a family fracturing under myriad pressures yet refusing to be broken... Hopkins paints a realistic picture of a family undergoing upheaval and learning to better care for one another.
Hopkins’ use of free verse provides a canvas for sure-handed, brush-stroke development of the backstory and plot and emotional investment and identification with the characters... Compassionate and compelling.
Readers will root for these realistic characters, and will cheer for the growth they experience. Highly recommended.
About the author
