"For best friends Chris and Win, nothing could be more gratifying than a two-month-long cross-country bike trip following high school graduation. But when Win suddenly disappears somewhere in Montana, and Chris, the narrator, returns home alone to Virginia with only a hunch where his friend might be, Chris's once-firm grasp on reality slowly begins to weaken — especially when Win's overprotective, blowhard father launches an FBI investigation to track down his son. This debut novel transcends the run-of-the-mill alienated-teens-on-a-road-trip plot. While the boys meet interesting people and discover fascinating and gorgeously lonesome parts of the country, they also evolve in ways neither thought possible. Endowing both boys with a heavy dose of idealism, responsibility and self-preservation, Bradbury makes their growth feel genuine and even profound. Chris and readers are equally in the dark about Win's disappearance, making the mystery that much more exciting. Ages 12 — up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"This is great realistic mystery. Jennifer Bradbury tells a totally believable, totally engrossing story. You will keep the pages turning." — Chris Crutcher, the Margaret A. Edwards Award-winning author of Deadline and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

Jennifer Bradbury is an English teacher living in Burlington, Washington. She and her husband took a two-month-long bicycling trek from Charleston, South Carolina, to Los Angeles, California, for their honeymoon, changing more than fifty flat tires along the way. She was also a one-day winner of Jeopardy! Shift is her debut novel.