Away

by Megan E. Freeman

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

An inspiring story of a group of kids forced out of their homes, but refusing to accept what they're told as to why. Once they start asking questions, it's up to them to get to the bottom of it all.

A group of children investigate the threat that prompted large-scale evacuations in this powerful and dramatic companion novel to the New York Times bestselling Alone told in multiple POVs.

After an imminent yet unnamed danger forces people across Colorado to leave their homes, a group of kids including an aspiring filmmaker and a budding journalist find themselves in the same evacuation camp. As they cope with the aftermath of having their world upended, they grow curious about the mysterious threat.

And as they begin to investigate, they start to discover that there's less truth and more cover-up to what they're being told. Can they get to the root of the conspiracy, expose the bad actors, and bring an end to the upheaval before it's too late?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665959728
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	02/11/2025
Series:	Megan E. Freeman's Alone Series , #2
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.70(d)
Age Range:	10 - 18 Years

About the Author

Megan E. Freeman attended an elementary school where poets visited her classroom every week, and she has been a writer ever since. She writes middle grade and young adult fiction. Megan is also a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. An award-winning teacher with decades of classroom experience, Megan taught multiple subjects across the arts and humanities to students of all ages. She lives near Boulder, Colorado. Visit her online at MeganEFreeman.com.

Read an Excerpt

Tuesday: 5:00 P.M. Mountain Standard Time: On the radio

On the radio

“You’re tuned to KRKY 97, and it’s time for news at the top of the hour.

New protective action curfews are in place across Colorado this evening, with mandatory checkpoints for anyone traveling beyond registered county limits. Be sure to leave in plenty of time to get home safely tonight.

We’ve got record-breaking temperatures in the forecast again, but Splash Gardens opens for the summer in less than three weeks. You won’t want to miss the new and improved waterslide, so get your season passes before the price goes up.

And it looks like we’re heading into another hot, dry weekend with high fire danger in the mountains and foothills, so double-check all burn bans and fireworks restrictions.

For all the latest in Colorado news and weather, we’re here for you on KRKY 97, the Rocky Mountains’ most trusted news source.”

Editorial Reviews

2024-10-26
Four young people come together in a relocation camp after they’re suddenly evacuated from their Colorado homes.

In this companion toAlone (2021), Ashanti Johnson, 12, Grandin Stone, 14, Harmony Addams-Paul, 12, Teddy Brenkert, 11, and their families are whisked off to a fenced-in camp amid urgent announcements of a never-specified threat. There, they’re cut off by armed guards and a cell phone ban from all contact with the outside world. Eventually, after nearly two years of official obfuscation and foot dragging, they come to suspect that all is not as it seems. The plot and the whole scenario require a major suspension of disbelief, but to readers who can roll with it, Freeman delivers an engaging tale in which young crusaders strive to overcome both parental passivity and corrupt authorities to discover and expose a dastardly scheme. Of the leads, only Grandin, who comes from a ranching family and hopes to become an environmentalist, wrestles with sharp feelings of displacement, but the others do have a variety of personal interests (such as Ashanti’s deep knowledge of Greek mythology) and family issues that emerge. The narrative unfolds in introspective free verse, transcripts of radio broadcasts, stories in the camp’s newspaper by student journalist Harmony, and scripted film scenes by aspiring filmmaker Teddy (whose behavior may signal neurodiversity). Most characters present white; Ashanti is cued Black.

Scary and satisfying, for all its implausibility.(Verse fiction. 11-14)

Kirkus Reviews