These two novels both deal with alternate imaginary afterlife scenarios. Liz, a teenager killed by a hit and run driver, lives in Elsewhere with her grandmother, who died before she was born.  Although people work, play and get married after death, they grow younger until they become babies and are reborn onto Earth again. It is interesting to watch Liz “grow up” as she grows younger.

Nick and Allie, also victims of an auto accident, get knocked out of the tunnel leading toward the light and land in Everlost, an invisible world existing simultaneously with ours. Only able to walk on land where a remembered tragedy has occurred, the children make their way to New York City, determined to find their way back to the light. An extremely poignant scene reveals hundreds of other lost children “living” in the Everlost’s World Trade Center.

Reviewed by Janeway