The Garden of Eve

The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going

I read and enjoyed Going's Printz Award-winning Fat Kid Rules the World. The Garden of Eve is for a younger audience, but it is just as good. The novel deals with death and the grief of those left behind, but the issue and its take-away is incorporated so fully into the story that it never feels heavy-handed.

After the death of her mother, single-child Evie Adler is unmoored. While she loves her serious and hardworking father, she has always been closest to her loving, whimsical mother. When her father inexplicably decides to relocate the family from Michigan to New York, the family has the opportunity for a fresh start. Their new home, however, is decidedly strange. People of Beaumont stay far away from the Adler's farm and the trees in the apple orchard haven't born fruit in years. Evie meets a ghost in the cemetery next to the farm. The last owner of the farm left Evie gift, but the box only contained a seed. Though it seems strange, with this seed Evie may be able to save the farm and bring peace to her ghost.

I'll be giving one of my nieces a copy of The Garden of Eve. She's the same age as Evie and she loves to read so I'm sure she'll enjoy the book.