In Some Other Life

Gr 71–0—Incoming ninth grader Kennedy faced a difficult choice: attend the prestigious prep school whose acceptance she had been awaiting for years or attend public school with the boy who finally asked her out. She picked the boy. Now it's senior year, and Kennedy is still with Austin, running the award-winning school newspaper and applying to Columbia. But part of her has always longed to be at Windsor Academy, and she second-guesses her past decision when she walks in on Austin kissing her best friend. Through a contrived set of events, Kennedy hits her head and wakes up as a different version of herself who attended Windsor and appears to have it all: great grades and popular friends. But it becomes evident that this alternate reality has its downsides, and Kennedy wonders if her first choice was right all along. Even though the execution of the alternate reality concept isn't perfect, the story is well written. Kennedy's friends in both realities are clearly characterized, and her family members, especially her physics-loving 11-year-old brother, steal the show. For those students who wonder what their choices might have cost them, this book suggests that the path not traveled might well have been untrod for a reason.