As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth

Starred review from May 10, 2010
When 16-year-old Ry discovers that his archeological summer camp has been canceled, he steps off the train to call his grandfather only to see the train pull away. So begins Ry's implausible and existential journey at the center of Newbery Award–winner Perkins's (Criss Cross) contemplative and energetic novel. To compound the situation, Ry's grandfather has suffered a concussion and is missing, and his parents' Caribbean sailing trip has been fraught with problems. Ry stumbles into Del, a handy, sympathetic man who decides to drive Ry home to Wisconsin, becoming a quirky mentor. Del remains unflappable as he extends their road trip to find Ry's parents, setting off a series of riotous misadventures. A humorous additional narrative, "Dogs," told in comic strip format, mimics Del's and Ry's story, and continues Perkins's experimentation with form. Her observations and turns of phrase ("The shoes were a metaphor for the decline of western civilization: crappy and glitzy and barely useful, but pretty comfortable.... Ry didn't think that thought specifically, but he felt as dispirited as if he had") are as unexpected and delightful as the travels she weaves together. Ages 12–up.

July 1, 2010
Gr 7 Up—-his is a story of one misfortune after another. As the book opens, Ry, a 16-year-old Wisconsin resident en route to camp, is left behind in Middle-of-Nowhere, MT, as his stalled train pulls out and he recounts the events that led him to leave the train in the first place. Bad goes to worse: he loses a shoe and his phone charger, his grandfather back home is injured, and his parents are having their own misadventures in the Caribbean. A superhero of a fix-it guy named Del helps Ry to put his life back together. Along the way, readers learn that there is more to Del than initially meets the eye. The story is told in a traditional, episodic style, bouncing from one calamity to the next. The narration occasionally switches perspective to include the grandfather's tale of woe as well as well-drawn graphic-style portrayals of the family dogs' mishaps. The style is reminiscent of Chris Crutcher's, and the action is evocative of Gary Paulsen, but the freewheeling prose, quirky humor, and subtle life lessons are all Perkins's own. This novel is not going to be every teen boy's cup of tea, but its charms are undeniable.—"Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL"

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