Where the Road Leads Us

February 1, 2021

Gr 9 Up-It's Jack's last day of high school and his 18th birthday. Still reeling from the death of his father the previous year, struggling with anxiety, and feeling ambivalent about his college plans, Jack has a lot on his plate. When his girlfriend, Natasha, drops a bomb on him days before they are set to begin the next chapter of their lives together, it throws everything into question. Meanwhile, Hallie's cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment have forced her to miss out on much of her high school experience and has put a strain on her family's finances. Although she has been in remission for some time, she has found it difficult to plan for the future or find pleasure in things she used to enjoy. At the start of this novel, her thoughts are consumed by some concerning news she received at her last doctor's appointment. After their paths cross in a serendipitous meeting, Jack and Hallie end up on an unexpected road trip together, both searching for answers. In alternating perspectives, the protagonists feel authentic, as does the connection they form. While the ending wraps up a bit too tidily, readers will be invested in these characters and enjoy watching them become confident in forging their own paths versus doing what is expected of them. Main characters' ethnicity isn't stated. VERDICT A fun and thought-provoking read for mid-size or larger collections.-Kimberly Tolson, Millis P.L., MA

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2021
The best road trip may be the one that's unplanned. On the doubly momentous day of Jack's 18th birthday and high school graduation in Southern California, he's still grieving his father's recent death. His mother, a sex therapist to celebrities, is away on a book tour, and his longtime girlfriend has just broken up with him. While packing for a next-day flight to start an internship in New York before heading to Columbia, he discovers a letter from his father to his missing older brother, who struggles with drug addiction and is apparently living in San Francisco. Across town, Hallie, who dropped out of school her sophomore year due to cancer, plots to sneak away from her parents' pancake restaurant to attend the assisted suicide in Portland of a friend she met in an online support group. Alternating first-person chapters recount their converging storylines as Jack decides to find his brother and Hallie's bus gets delayed. With an aspiring actor as their ride-hire-app driver, the teens spend 24 hours together, traveling north and exploring. Reul presents a fresh take on serendipitous encounters as a mix of humorous escapades and soulful discussions cause Jack and Hallie to reevaluate their futures and take charge of their lives, with a hint of romance also driving the tension. Excepting Jack's best friend who is implied Indian American, characters are White by default. A feel-good story with depth. (Fiction. 14-18)

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April 1, 2021
Grades 9-12 Jack Freeman wakes up on the day of his eighteenth birthday and high-school graduation with his life set out for him: a summer internship before he starts premed at Columbia University. Everything starts to unravel when he realizes that he has been trying to please everyone except himself. After a chance encounter with former classmate Hallie in a rideshare, he embarks on a journey to find his brother, Alex, in San Francisco. Alex left just before their father died, and Jack hasn't heard from him since. He travels to San Francisco with Hallie, whose experience with cancer motivated her to go on her own odyssey. Circumstances have her spending the day with Jack in San Francisco, and as they roam the city, they open up to each other and explore the idea of rewriting their futures to suit themselves. Jack and Hallie alternate in the narrative, and each has a distinct voice. Although the details of their lives contrast, these differences later become the seeds that help them pursue their own paths and live in the moment. Reul delivers a road trip with meaning.

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