The Deepest Blue

August 1, 2013
The only thing worse than having your father die unexpectedly is having your mother claim custody of you, or so it feels to Mike. Michael, almost 16, lives happily with his divorced father in a coastal North Carolina town, running a successful charter fishing business and sharing an easy give-and-take as they work side by side. Mike is pleased when Dad announces his plan to marry longtime girlfriend Maggie. But on the way back from buying a ring, Dad is killed by a drunk driver, and suddenly, Mike finds himself dealing with profound grief, the agonizing steps of planning a funeral and the terrifying prospect that his long-estranged mother might try to take him away from Maggie. Justesen hits the emotional points perfectly, using first-person narration to reveal Mike's impressive powers of observation and his puzzlement over his own unfamiliar behavior. The novel takes place over the course of about a week, from ring to accident to custody hearing, with solemn pacing and little action until the gripping courtroom scenes. (The cartoonish depictions of Mike's mentally ill mother and her sweaty lawyer are the book's weak spots.) A scene in which Mike gets naked (but doesn't have sex) with his girlfriend is touching rather than spicy. Teens with a little patience will be drawn into Mike's struggle to keep going after death has changed everything. (Fiction. 12-16)

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February 1, 2014

Gr 8 Up-After his dad, a fishing charter boat captain, is killed in an automobile accident, 16-year-old Michael wants to live with his father's girlfriend, who has been like a real mother to him for the last 10 years. However, his biological mom, who rejected him when he was five, appears and demands that he come live with her clear across the country. A battle for custody ensues, which the teen can win or lose depending on how well he can control his emotions in court under the grueling questioning of his mother's attorney. The emotional turmoil of the days between the accident and the funeral are told with deliberate slowness in Mike's honest first-person narrative. Juxtaposed with the breathtaking speed of the legal procedures that follow, the boy's overwhelming grief and panic while trying to deal with the court system are tangible. The tension builds and doesn't relent until the judge pronounces her decision. Justesen's adept descriptions are tedious at times, but the characters are well drawn and realistic, especially the protagonist's friends, who are as supportive as they know how to be. This gripping, heart-wrenching story will show readers what it's like to suffer a great loss and survive.-Nancy P. Reeder, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Columbia, SC

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2013
Grades 7-10 The first 50 pages of this low-key novel are so relentlessly mild that readers might well be caught off guard by the unsignaled disaster. Mike, 15, is awakened by his soon-to-be-stepmother, Maggie, to learn that his beloved father has been killed in a car crash. He's thrown into a tailspin of anger and depression exacerbated by a surprise threat: his deadbeat biological mother, missing since he was 5, wants custody. Mike and Maggie move fast toward adoption, but first the case must be heard in court. Justesen's squeaky-clean drama is unflaggingly earnestwhich, depending on the scene, is its biggest deficit or biggest strength. It is most valuable as a post-tragedy procedural, as Justesen takes readers on a painful but potentially reassuring journey through the minutia that follows a sudden death: the funeral arrangements, legal ramifications, and much more. The author's restraint is admirable, as is the unresolved ending, which leaves several complicated relationships up in the air. A heartfelt offering ideal for reluctant readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)