Riding Out the Storm

December 12, 2011
Building a story from the classic premise of two strangers meeting on a bus, Deans (Rainy) explores the conflicts of Zach, a troubled eighth-grader traveling from Maine to New Jersey to visit his
institutionalized older brother, Derek. When he boards the Greyhound bus with his grandfather, Zach is angry, unable to forget how Derek’s mental illness took a toll on his family’s emotions and finances. But once on the road, Derek finds a welcome diversion in the teenage girl sitting beside him. Purple-haired, outspoken, and compassionate, she makes him laugh and “takes the edge off that awful feeling of Derek being gone.” The bond between them (Zach never actually gets her name, instead referring to her as Purplehead)
intensifies as severe weather conditions threaten their safety, and it becomes Zach’s turn to help others. Part survival story, part romance, and part psychological study, this novel contains perhaps too many components to retain a clear focus, but it sends a pointed message about inadequate health care systems and stigmas concerning the mentally ill. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sally Brady.

February 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-Sixteen-year-old Chap has no past and no family. When he is mistaken for a missing teen, Cassiel Roadnight, whose family has been searching for him for two years, Chap sees an opportunity for a new identity. The circumstance seems like a gift from the universe: food, a warm bed, security, love. But is he willing to give up his freedom to maintain a lie? Chap soon discovers that he has become part of a dysfunctional family with plenty of secrets about themselves, Cassiel, and even Chap. As Chap struggles to maintain his adopted personality, he is thrust into the role of detective, slowly uncovering the truth of Cassiel's disappearance and the Roadnights' unusual dynamics, a position that eventually helps him discover things about his own past, family, and name. As in Me, the Missing, and the Dead (HarperTeen, 2008), Valentine shows her skill at creating a teen detective story in which external and internal mysteries must be simultaneously solved. The intense story is full of twists, and the conflicts are complex. Fans of psychological thrillers will not be disappointed with this dark and danger-filled tale.-Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA

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