I am working on story about a 12-year-old surviving twin who lost her parents and twin brother at birth in a car accident. Malika Evelyn (Evy) feels out of place so she creates this idealistic world in her mind with her birth parents and brother, calls her cousins who have been her "parents" since birth by their first names, and insists on being called by her middle name because it belonged to her birth mother. Evy leanrs to become a leader by organizing other students in an effort to raise money to save a sick kitten. Through the mentoring of her grandfather, Evy overcomes motor difficulties to perform in a traditional Native dance as part of the fundraising effort.
Would this story be middle grade or young adult? (early drafts of first two chapters linked below)
Partway through the story she gets lectured for calling her adoptive parents/cousins Dan and Rena and begins calling them Mom and Dad like she once did.
Her decision to be called Evy was a recent decision rather than something she was called all her life. At the conclusion of the novel should she decide to go by her origional first name? Her first name was given to her by her adoptive mother and is a deriviation of Rena's middle name Mikayla.
I think this change may symbolize the transition out of her fantasy world but I'm afraid it will also create confusion.
Would this story be middle grade or young adult? (early drafts of first two chapters linked below)
Partway through the story she gets lectured for calling her adoptive parents/cousins Dan and Rena and begins calling them Mom and Dad like she once did.
Her decision to be called Evy was a recent decision rather than something she was called all her life. At the conclusion of the novel should she decide to go by her origional first name? Her first name was given to her by her adoptive mother and is a deriviation of Rena's middle name Mikayla.
I think this change may symbolize the transition out of her fantasy world but I'm afraid it will also create confusion.
