WriterGirl Review: Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Scarborough Fair by Haley Westenra


Finally! My first review! Let's rewind to my mind altering post when I came on the idea that one of my missions as WriterGirl should be to bring forward books drowning in obscurity. To make it something different, I put some rather interesting rules on myself, including:

I will focus on YA and Children's literature (with very rare exceptions).
I will not review any book that is one of the top 25,000 selling books (based on Amazon ranks)
I will try and aim for books 100,000 or larger.
I will not review books before my 2005 (with very rare exceptions).

So first up to bat is Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers!


Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers.

Amazon Rank: #362,537


First Line: Hey Claire-Bear
milk
apples
bananas
avocados
onions
potatoes
tomatoes
mushrooms
carrots and rabbit food for Peter
ground beef
bread
juice - you choose

My Take: This is a sweet little gem of a story. As you can guess from the "first line" and title, this entire story takes place through notes written on the refrigerator door between a mother and daughter. It's quite unique and very well executed. The premise that neither of them have cell phones they use stretches the believability of this story, but it is the charm of discovering their relationship for yourself through these notes that pulls it through this hiccup. The complexity came from what was not said, what you had to guess of what had happened between the notes. It felt almost like a comic book in that sense, trying to piece the action together between the white borders. This structuring makes it not only realistic, but keeps you engaged in an otherwise very short read. Realize: some notes are only a few words, and you could easily breeze through this in an afternoon. I had read almost half of it in the bookstore before I realized how far I was, and purchased the thing.


The Final Word: Enjoyable, very sweet, a predictable tear-jerker, wonderful read to share with your own mother (even if she's not a reader), and a perfect summer read.

Similar Vein Stories: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Peeled by Joan Bauer, and 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher