Synopses & Reviews
Jill MacSweeny just wishes everything could go back to normal. But ever since her dad died, she's been isolating herself from her boyfriend, her best friends--everyone who wants to support her. And when her mom decides to adopt a baby, it feels like she's somehow trying to replace a lost family member with a new one.
Mandy Kalinowski understands what it's like to grow up unwanted--to be raised by a mother who never intended to have a child. So when Mandy becomes pregnant, one thing she's sure of is that she wants a better life for her baby. It's harder to be sure of herself. Will she ever find someone to care for her, too?
As their worlds change around them, Jill and Mandy must learn to both let go and hold on, and that nothing is as easy--or as difficult--as it seems.
Critically acclaimed author and National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr delivers a heart-wrenching story, told from dual perspectives, about the many roads that can lead us home.
Review
* "Woven together from two simple threads, the resulting tapestry is as beautiful as it is real. A story that will resonate beyond its final page."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Review
* "Filled with so many frustrations, so many dilemmas needing reasonable solutions, and so much hope and faith in the midst of sadness, Zarr's novel is a rich tapestry of love and survival that will resonate with even the most cynical readers."--Booklist, starred review
Review
* " Zarr crafts intimate and authentic portraits of two vulnerable teens struggling to cope with uncertain futures...their slow, cautious efforts to build trust and better understand the meaning of family are expressed with the deepest compassion and kindness."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
Review
* "The imperfection of the characters and the uniqueness of their situations come together in a compulsively readable novel. Zarr has established herself as an author who must not be missed."--VOYA, starred review
Review
* "Another heavy-hitting page-turner from Zarr....A must read."--School Library Journal, starred review
Review
* "Readers will worry, laugh and ultimately soar along with Arlo as he finds his way. Nuanced supporting characters and a vivid New Mexico landscape ground Arlos dilemma, creating a superbly well-balanced narrative."
—Kirkus, starred review
"A moving story about loss, love, and learning to let go."
—School Library Journal
"Wesselhoeft's mesmerizing descriptions of Conrad's New Mexico home...and giddy exhiliration when he's riding his Yamaha bike...will keep readers in the thrill of the moment."
—Publishers Weekly
"Features both a supporting cast lit up with larger-than-life characters and a protagonist who loves flying recklessly close to the edge but makes right choices in the clutch."
—Booklist
Review
"Those interested in the psychological landscape will appreciate the moments of kindness from strangers, the sympathetic portraits of people who fit best in the margins, and the overall optimistic vision of human nature."
—Horn Book
"With clipped prose of intimate detail and keen insight, Jahn-Clough crafts an authentically adolescent first-person narrative. . . . With tight pacing, motley characters, and touches of the spiritual, this is a furious, illuminating adventure."
—Booklist
"The plotting and the exploration of a teen's suddenly being stripped of everything she owns and everyone she loves will elicit interest."
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Jahn-Clough offers a fresh take on the literary device of amnesia in this gripping novel. . . Readers should find this resilient heroine's poetic observations about survival and identity as memorable as the details of her harrowing ordeal."
—Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Video gamer and daredevil dirt bike rider Arlo Santiago is recruited by the U.S. military at White Sands to pilot drone missions in Pakistan. When the game becomes all too real, how will Arlo reconcile his duty with the violent death that haunts his family?
Synopsis
Seventeen year-old dirt-bike-riding daredevil Arlo Santiago catches the eye of the U.S. military with his first-place ranking on a video game featuring drone warfare, and must reconcile the work they want him to do with the emotional scars he has suffered following a violent death in his family. Adios, Nirvana author Conrad Wesselhoeft, takes readers from the skies over war-torn Pakistan to the dusty arroyos of New Mexico's outback in this young adult novel about daring to live in the wake of unbearable loss.
Synopsis
After seeing her house destroyed, Blue suffers acute memory loss. She decides to head back to her childhood home, unsure of where it is, who she is, or what's waiting for her when she gets there.
Synopsis
All dead. No one survived. All dead. This morbid chant haunts seventeen-year-old Blue as she trudges through the countryside with just the clothes on her back, heading to her childhood home on the ocean. Something absolutely awful has happened, she knows it, but she doesnt know what. She cant even remember her name, so she calls herself Blue. This gripping survival story—peppered with flashbacks to bittersweet times with her boyfriend, Jake—strips life down to its bare bones. Blue learns, with the help of a seemingly magical stray dog and kind people along the road, that the important thing is to live.
About the Author
Lisa Jahn-Clough has written and illustrated a number of books for young children, including Alicia Has a Bad Day, My Friend and I, Missing Molly, Simon and Molly Plus Hester, and On the Hill, as well as her debut young adult novel Country Girl, City Girl. She is the chair of the illustration program at Maine College of Art and also teaches at the Vermont College Writing for Children and Young Adults program. She lives in Portland, Maine.