Again Again

Lockhart returns to Alabaster Preparatory Academy—the setting for The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks—to tell the story of a different character. Adrift and languorous in the summer between her junior and senior years, Adelaide Buchwald navigates the aftermath of an unexpected breakup, at least one potential new romance, and a wrenching situation with her brother. Her daily routine revolves around her job walking dogs belonging to vacationing faculty members and working to fend off academic probation by completing a set design project. Lockhart takes her penchant for plot twists to a new level, with a narrative that explores the idea of the multiverse, those infinite worlds loosed by paths taken and not taken. Key scenes are imagined and then reimagined, laying out an iterative feast of ideas about art, possibility, and the creative process for readers hungry for big concepts. Others will simply luxuriate in the storytelling: Adelaide’s ups and downs, the sweetly individual personalities of the dogs she walks, and the dreamy atmosphere of the nearly deserted summertime campus. Ages 12–up. [em]Agent: Elizabeth Kaplan, Elizabeth Kaplan Literary. (June) [/em]