Hazel Buys (Children's Literature)
Evie has recently lost her mother to cancer and is lost in the confusion and solitude of sorrow. This allegory of bereavement explores resurrection as it exists in the world of the living, in the acceptance of life moving forward, and the easing of grief. Evie moves with her father from Michigan to New York to an abandoned apple orchard near a town that is nearly deserted. There she passes by a funeral, an echo of her own recent loss, and sees a young boy close to her own age. The boy’s struggle with his loss establishes a tie to Evie. Together, in this well-crafted story of suffering and hope, they journey from being absorbed in regret to living in acceptance and peace. The imagery includes strong Christian metaphors, some obvious--the children’s names are Eve and Adam. The story is age-appropriate and the allegorical elements work well. This book would be a useful addition to a middle school program about the power of grief and the grieving process, but also works well as a fable. 2007, Harcourt Children’s Books/Harcourt, $17.00. Ages 8 to 12.

Ashley Lawhon (Children's Literature)
Evie Adler lost her faith in magic when her mother died ten months ago. Evie’s father uproots them and they move to a cursed town called Beaumont, New York. Her disbelief in magic is challenged when she meets a boy who claims to be a ghost named Alex, who gives her a mysterious seed that takes her on a magical adventure. Evie and the supposed ghost travel to another version of the world where no other people live, and where they have the power to control life and death. She quickly realizes that despite the perfection of this world, she could never leave behind her father who would be lost without her. Upon returning to her father, Evie learns that Alex is actually a living boy named Adam who recently lost his twin brother. She confides in her father the adventure she has just taken, and they work together to bring Adam home safely from the other world. With the common goal of saving Adam, Evie and her father learn how to trust and love each other despite their loss. Going truly gets to the heart of the questions of how to deal with the death of a loved one without forgetting to live. This story has a wonderful plot to entertain all ages but abounds in religious symbolism that more sophisticated readers will appreciate. 2007, Harcourt Children’s Books, $6.99. Ages 8 to 12.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2007 (Vol. 75, No. 17))
It's been ten months since her mother died, and Evie feels the loss every single day. Having moved into an old house rumored to be cursed doesn't help matters any, but at least Evie is distracted from her father's withdrawal by the strange residents of their new town. There's Alex, a boy that lingers in the cemetery claiming to be a ghost, and Maggie, a shopkeeper who presents Evie with the gift of a single seed. Evie becomes convinced that the seed hails from the original Garden of Eden, and decides to use it to find her mother. Instead, she learns almost too late that unnatural life can be a far more terrible and destructive thing than natural grief. The book is most effective when it seeks to understand and clarify Evie's pain. Unfortunately, it loses ground when, instead of concentrating on a single fantastical element, Going creates an uncomfortable mélange of ghosts, magic and the Book of Genesis. The emotions may be sound, but the story demands a tighter focus on the otherworldly. 2007, Harcourt, 240p, $17.00. Category: Fantasy. Ages 9 to 13. © 2007 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Laurie Slagenwhite (Library Media Connection, January 2008)
Shortly after the death of her mother, 10-year-old Evie unwillingly leaves her home in Michigan for New York where her father has purchased an apple orchard that doesn't produce fruit. Local superstition has it that the trees have been cursed ever since the former owner's sister, also named Eve, disappeared long ago. Adding to Evie's dismay is the orchard's proximity to a cemetery. But it is in the cemetery that Evie meets a boy named Alex, who claims to be a ghost. Adding to the eerie atmosphere is the mysterious seed given to Evie for her 11th birthday that, when planted, yields a tree that proves to be the entrance to a parallel universe. It is here that Alex and Evie are able to solve the mystery of Eve's disappearance, and, along the way, come to terms with the death of loved ones. This tale of magical realism will appeal to readers of both fantasy and realistic fiction. Going effectively uses Evie's physical journey to illustrate her journey through the stages of grief. Recommended. 2007, Harcourt, 240pp., $17 hc. Ages 8 to 12.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, October 2007 (Vol. 61, No. 2))
Evie’s father is deep in mourning for his recently deceased wife, so he moves his ten-year-old daughter and himself from their Michigan home to a farm in upstate New York, where he will attempt to revive an orchard so unproductive that the townsfolk consider it to be cursed. Evie, lonely from loss and her father’s distracted neglect, finds two friends—Alex, who hangs around the adjacent graveyard and introduces himself as the boy who was buried on the day of their arrival, and Maggie, a storekeeper whose brother once owned the orchard and was suspected of killing their missing older sister, Eve. With friends like Evie’s and plotlines like these, readers might expect a chilling middle-grades ghost story. Unfortunately, Going overplays her hand by stirring in another arc that involves magic seeds that grow magic trees that take seekers to a magic land where they might meet their dead relatives, and suddenly things are no longer spooky at all, just vaguely Meaningful. Still, a cleverly deployed twist concerning Alex’s true identity finally delivers some shivers of the psychological rather than preternatural variety, and children who prefer mystery over menace may want to join Evie on her otherworldly explorations Review Code: Ad -- Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2007, Harcourt, 240p.; Reviewed from galleys, $17.00. Grades 4-6.