July 11, 2016
Teddy Hendrix’s grandfather, “Gpa,” raised him but now has early-stage Alzheimer’s; his greatest fear is forgetting his late wife. Teddy writes down Gpa’s stories, but what his grandfather really wants is to see the church he was married in one more time. It means a cross-country trip, and although Teddy doesn’t drive, there’s a girl from school who’s looking to leave town. Singer-songwriter Corrina bonds with Gpa over music, and she and Teddy (an aspiring poet) move slowly toward romance as they cope with Gpa’s mood swings and the inevitable delays, detours, and revelations of a road trip. Their destination is Ithaca, N.Y., with its echoes of the Odyssey, and if Kiely (All American Boys) leans a bit hard on Teddy’s poetic sensibilities and the sheer American weirdness they pass through, he wisely splits the bard and quester roles across his characters (Corrina dreams of a career in music; Teddy wants to know more about his long-dead father). As Gpa tells Teddy, you have to “respect the road trip,” and Kiely does in a quirky, romantic, and satisfying story. Ages 14–up. Agent: Rob Weisbach, Rob Weisbach Creative Management.
Starred review from July 1, 2016
Teddy, 17, makes a promise to his Alzheimer's-stricken grandfather, Gpa, to bring him home from assisted living before he forgets Teddy's deceased grandmother.An evening on the beach listening to his talented friend Corrina, adopted from Guatemala, sing and play guitar gives Teddy a rash idea for the three of them (and Gpa's aptly named dog, Old Humper) to drive from LA to Ithaca, New York. Although Teddy is the one telling the story, the three main characters and their individual needs for the road trip are equally well fleshed out. Corrina needs to get away from her adoptive parents and try to break into the music scene. She shares a love of '60s rock with Gpa, creating a bond that helps keep his memories alive. Gpa, a Vietnam vet who has demons of his own to put to rest, is trying to hold onto his faculties against overwhelming odds. Teddy's voice is humorous and sincere. He flirts with Corrina and remains optimistic that things will work out despite the obstacles they encounter. At a Mexican-themed restaurant, Teddy realizes how ignorant he is of the everyday racism that Corrina encounters: "It was like my whiteness just put pirate patches over my eyes and I was blind to all the pain." Readers will be swept up in Kiely's musical prose as Teddy learns about love, romance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. (Fiction. 13-17)
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Starred review from September 1, 2016
Gr 10 Up-Teddy Hendrix is a typical teenage boy dealing with hormones, girls who won't give him the time of day, and family issues. His grandfather, Gpa, is in the throes of Alzheimer's, and his memories are quickly fading away. After getting into a fight with a popular boy at his school, Hendrix joins up with Corrina, who is equally adrift and on whom he's been crushing. She is adopted from Guatemala and finds an outlet for her loneliness and pain through music. After an emotional visit at Gpa's retirement home, Hendrix and Corrina decide to fire up his mom's car and take Gpa on one last road trip, from Los Angeles to Ithaca, NY. Along the way, the teens learn more about each other and the world and realize that sometimes the past is better left in the past and that the future is bright and vast if you have the right person on the journey. Kiely has constructed a sophisticated story about the power of love, music, and making amends. All three of the main characters are fully fleshed out and leap off the page. Corrina's struggles will resonate with many teens who are grappling with who they are in society, especially teens of color adopted into white families and those who strive to achieve their dreams. Gpa's disease is handled in a humane, nonexploitative way. The Odyssey-inspired plot evolves at a leisurely pace, yet it never drags, giving readers a chance to savor this special book. VERDICT Deeply personal and universal at the same time, Kiely's truly lovely tale should find a home in every YA collection.-Christopher Lassen, BookOps: The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2016
Hendrix runs into his longtime secret crush, Corrina, on a street corner in L.A. where she is playing her guitar. Little does he realize this will lead to a spontaneous plan to bust his grandfather -- who has Alzheimer's disease -- out of his assisted living facility, borrow Hendrix's mother's car, and embark on a cross-country road trip to Ithaca, New York, where many of his grandfather's happiest memories were formed. As the three wend their way through the Southwest en route to their destination, a lot of backstory comes to the fore. We learn that Gpa, a Vietnam veteran, still misses his deceased wife terribly, while Corrina, adopted from Guatemala, struggles to fit in with her family, relate to her ethnic heritage, and deal with the racism she experiences daily. Hendrix is finally able to open up to Corrina about his feelings for her, but the road trip is cut short when he learns a family secret about his dead father. In this novel about two love stories (the second emerges as Gpa reminisces about Gma), Kiely eschews the hard-hitting topics of his previous novels -- police brutality (with Jason Reynolds, All American Boys, rev. 11/15), sexual abuse in the clergy (The Gospel of Winter) -- for some of the classic tropes of YA literature, something more along the lines of John Green's Paper Towns (rev. 9/08). jonathan hunt
(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
January 1, 2017
Hendrix busts his grandfather--who has Alzheimer's disease--out of his assisted living facility. With Hendrix's crush, Corrina, they embark on a cross-country road trip from California to Ithaca, New York, where many of his grandfather's happiest memories were formed. In this novel about two love stories, Kiely (coauthor of All American Boys) eschews hard-hitting topics for more classic YA tropes.
(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
August 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 As lonely 17-year-old Teddy loses the man who raised himhis widowed grandfather, Gpaby inches to Alzheimer's, he vows to make Gpa's final wish come true: to travel from L.A. to Ithaca, New York, to the church where Gpa and Gma got married. Stealing his mother's car for the journey, he also offers a seat to talented high-school classmate Corrina, who is trying desperately to make something happen with her musical career. It doesn't hurt that she is the music in Teddy's heart. Whether the three make it to Ithaca or not, this bittersweet, sometimes humorous coming-of-age journey hits all the right notes, with its emotional language, vivid landscapes, and quirky characters. Kiely (All American Boys, 2015, with Jason Reynolds) skillfully constructs the cross-country trip to mirror Teddy and Corrina's voyage of discovery, and offsets this eagerness for the future with Gpa's ongoing struggles to keep his past. A good fit for new adults, graduates of Joan Bauer's Rules of the Road (1998), or those who enjoyed John Green's Looking for Alaska (2005).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)