Furthermore

By Tahereh Mafi

The book I read is called Furthermore and it is written by Tahereh Mafi. Furthermore takes place about now but in a completely different world. In this book, Young Alice accompanies a past enemy, Oliver, to find her long gone father. They live in a place called Ferenwood and every year, there is a Surrender. Each 12 year old in Ferenwood has to enter a competition. The competition is to get the best mission by showing their talent. Alice can change the color of things, but makes a big mistake and presents her dancing instead. Unlike most kids, who get a task to complete, the judges don’t give her a task. No She decides to go with Oliver Newbanks to find her father.

Alice is brave, determined, and self conscious. She is brave to enter Furthermore, and risk her life for father. She risks her life because she is determined to find father, even if it means finding him with Oliver. Furthermore has strange creatures… not friendly ones. She is self conscious because she is constantly worrying about her pale hair and skin. One example is that in the book, for the surrender. The reason she danced instead of showing her real talent, was because she thought, what’s the point of changing the color of things… when you can’t even change your own color.

One of the most interesting parts of the book was when Alice failed her surrender. This was important because of the way everyone is the day of the competition versus when they get the envelope.The charting is laid out five to one. If you get a five, you did great, if you got a one, you did horribly, but you still get a task, just one not as good as a five task. This envelope Alice was so excited to open, but to realize she  got a card that was so bad she got a zero and didn’t get a task, (only three people in Ferenwood history had not gotten a task) made her very, very angry.
I enjoyed Furthermore a lot because there was a lot of magical, funny and shocking moments that made your heart stop. One example is when Oliver said, “It makes it so very difficult to stay alive there.” Then Alice said, “Oh, I can’t imagine, I can’t even imagine – goodness. I can’t breathe, can I? I’m sure I can’t breathe.’’ This is one of the many examples of dramatic Alice. Another reason is there is beautiful language in many spots of the book. For example, on page 146 it says, “Oliver had gone white. He was milk and paper and ghostly fright.” I would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading adventure and books you can’t seem to put down. A character I would use to describe Alice would be, yes… Alice from Alice and Wonderland. And not the original as much as the movie ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass.’ I would say this because they are both on a mission, look similar and are both missing their fathers. I would rate this book 4 stars because I loved the book a lot, but not one that I would read twice anytime soon.