Edgy Title

Living Dead Girl
By Elizabeth Scott
A 2009 ALA Best Book for Young Adults
A 2008 VOYA Editor's Choice for Teens

This is a story about Alice. Only, her name wasn't always Alice. When she was almost 10 years old she went with her class on a field trip to the aquarium. Frustrated with her friends for not allowing her to sit in the window seat on the bus ride over, she refuses to share her lip gloss and her friends leaver her. She paid for her selfishness. At least, that's why Alice thinks Ray took her that day. No one noticed until it was too late.

Now Alice is 15 and is still with Ray, living in a shabby apartment. By now she is used to the routine and his preferences - she no longer fights back. Both she and Ray are in a battle to keep her in a childlike body - Ray because as a pedofile, that's what he likes. Alice because she's afraid of what will happen to her when she no longer looks like a child. After all, she's not the first Alice.

Soon it becomes clear that Alice's body is becoming that of a woman. Ray has decided, however, to do things differently this time. Instead of simply "replacing" Alice and training another girl, he has a new plan - Alice will find a replacement and train her. After all, who knows what Ray likes better than Alice?

Alice is allowed to go out to find the new addition to the "family." It seems obviously that this is her chance to escape, but Ray has promised her that if she does her family will be the ones to suffer. When Alice finds her "replacement" it leads them all down a path that no one could see coming.


Okay, so I guess I'm just one of those people who doesn't listen when warned. When I went to OELMA last fall I attended Candi Pierce Garry's Walking the Line where she shared books that were safe, edgy but still acceptable, and simply too much for a school library. This book was one of the latter. In fact to paraphrase Garry, this book will haunt you forever. Never again will the reader look at a missing child flier the same.

I completely agree with Candi that I would not put this book in my library. Maybe, maybe 11th or 12th graders who are extremely mature could handle the content. While the scenes where Ray molests Alice are not explicit, it is very clear what is going on and there are a number of them. Additionally, this is not a book where all ends well and the conflict is resolved. I personally was shocked by the ending and left with a sense of injustice. I know that this book recieved numerous awards and recommendations (more than what I listed above), but I'm going to have to stick with Candi on this one - I would consider the theme of this book to be too adult for most high school students.

Book Talk Hook

If I were to book talk this book I would start by asking:

Have you ever seen a missing child poster in a store?
Or gotten a card in the mail asking, "Have you seen this child?"
Have you ever thought about where those children are?
What they're going through, right now?

This is a book about Alice.

Once upon a time, I was a little girl who disappeared. Once upon a time, my name was not Alice. Once upon a time, I didn’t know how lucky I was.