allaloneintheuniverse

Judge A Book By Its Cover

Book Reviews and Synopses

All Alone in the Universe

Lynn Rae Perkins

Perkins, Rae, Lynne. All Alone in the Universe. HarperCollinsPublisher. New York, NY. 1999.

The intricately woven story of All Alone in the Universe is by the down-to-earth author, Lynn Rae Perkins. She takes another step into the hearts of girls everywhere with this book. Anyone who reads this will shed tears, and fight alongside the protagonist all the way.

All Alone in the Universe is a touching tale about a girl named Jennifer, who, after moving from her old town has lost all of her friends and is now trying to fit in. Jennifer tries to convince her mother to rethink the move, but she’s already planned it out and rented the new house. She has no choice, despite her sadness and anger of leaving her hometown. When she finally arrives she sees the surrounding buildings, stores and schools and she becomes curious, forgetting to sulk.

The first day of school doesn’t go very well, the girls in her class have been there since first grade and have acquired a group of friends who only hang out with each other. At the end of the day, Jennifer has no friends or teachers to comfort her. She walks home, trying desperately not to cry. On the upside, their rental house allows pets, and her mother thinks they should get her one, to keep her company.

Jennifer decides to take matters into her own hands, and approaches one of the girls. They talk for a while, and realize they have a lot in common. They get along superbly and soon become best friends. The duo spend the rest of the school year hanging out together, and along the way meet some new crew members. By the end of the year they start a group for newly arrived kids to help them make new friends.

All Alone in the Universe is a terrific tale of friendship, loneliness, and trust. While the main character suffers many obstacles, she manages to overcome each and every one of the trials middle school presents to her. Many people say, don’t judge a book by its cover, but by all means, judge this one, because its sweet title and cute cover art definitely contributes positively to the story.

5 out of 5 stars.

Contributed by J. Rodriguez

Feb. 14, 2012