Almost Forever

Title: Almost Forever
Author: Maria Testa
ISBN: Hardcover: 0-7637-1996-5; Paperback: 978-0-7636-3366-0
Publisher: Hardcover: Candlewick, August, 2003; Paperback: Candlewick, February, 2007
Binding, Price: Hardcover: $14.99; Paperback: $5.99
Ages 9-13

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Description: They have no idea where he is. In Maria Testa’s lyric novel, the young narrator must watch her father march off to Vietnam, where he’ll serve a year in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. A year is a long time when you’re waiting for letters, waiting for word. A year becomes endless when you don’t know where your father is anymore. A year feels like forever when you’re wondering . . . and forgetting.

Awards & Accolades

• A Junior Library Guild Selection
• Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award Winner
• A Book Sense 76 Selection
• New York Public Library Children’s Books: 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
• Chicago Public Library Best Books for Children and Teens
• Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year
• Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) Poetry Pick
• Maine Student Book Award Master List
• Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, YA Top 40 Fiction Titles

“The language is gorgeously spare . . . Rapt readers don’t need to know anything about Vietnam to understand love, loss, fear, and waiting. A tour de force.” -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“This is a tender, insightful story from a perspective too often ignored – that of a soldier’s child.” -School Library Journal

“Middle school teens would love this story; it would make a wonderful read-aloud for a booktalk . . . This noteworthy book is highly recommended for both public and school libraries.” -5Q 4A VOYA