Last Year with Maddy
Anna Rosner
More Books By Anna Rosner
Can best friends Aviva and Maddy survive the hardest year of their lives without each other?
Twelve-year-olds Maddy Li-Quinn and Aviva Adelman are the best of friends, innately connected through their love of the arts: Aviva loves to read poetry and Maddy is a gifted violinist. However, over the course of a painful year, very different family struggles drive the two girls apart. Maddy encounters violence in the home, and Aviva’s baby brother faces a difficult diagnosis.
To cope with the stress, Aviva’s mother suggests she write a book about her friendship with Maddy. In an attempt to heal through the written word, Aviva becomes the funny, feisty protagonist of her own book, reflecting back on her life, and realizing that she, too, has made many mistakes along the way.
Advance Praise for Last Year with Maddy
“Last Year with Maddy is a raw, honest and heartfelt book about the power of friendship and forgiveness. Aviva’s voice is pitch-perfect as she comes to terms with what happened in the last year between her and her best friend, Maddy. Both girls navigate difficult moments in their lives, and neither are perfect in how they try to support one another. But it’s in their imperfections that the reader recognizes their humanity, and their love for each other. This book is full of heart and hope.” –Sidura Ludwig, award-winning author of Swan: The Girl Who Grew
“Rosner has produced a layered and nuanced narrative in Last Year with Maddy with the musicality of an orchestral symphony. Readers will experience piercing high notes and resonant lows, not just from Aviva’s story but from each character as they perform in sometimes sad, angry, joyful, but always hopeful concert.” –Paul Coccia, award-winning author of Recommended Reading
“At the heart of Last Year with Maddy are words – words of humour, of anger, of discovery, of connection. A complex and moving story about friendship and sisterly love.”– Adam Sol, poet and author of How a Poem Moves: A Field Guide for Readers of Poetry
Anna Rosner
Additional information
| Weight | N/A |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | N/A |
| Format: | Epub, paperback |
Anna Rosner shares her inspiration for Last Year with Maddy. Watch here.
“[B]ittersweet … In the tender novel Last Year with Maddy, best friends grow apart and find their way home again.” —Vivian Turnbull, Foreword Magazine
“An emotional tale of two close friends and the ups and downs they must navigate. Aviva acts as the narrator, so young readers can experience her rollercoaster of thoughts and feelings. I recommend this book for all middle-grade readers.” — Mark Buxton, YA Book Central
“Original, exceptional, and a fun read from start to finish Last Year with Maddy draws upon author Anna Rosner’s own personal experience with loss and recovery [which] gives the story an impressively exceptional storytelling quality…unreservedly recommended for middle school and community library Contemporary Fiction collections for young readers ages 9-12.” — Midwest Book Review
