Eleven and Holding

Compassionate portrayals of grief, courage, and resilience season this compelling coming-of-age story from Penney (the author of Love and Pollywogs from Camp Calamity and other titles as Mary Hershey). Macy Hollinquest is on a mission to bring her father home in time for her 12th birthday; he served in Iraq and is now working on a mysterious “special project” in a nearby Colorado town. Distrustful of the adults in her life and especially frustrated with her mother, Macy turns to Switch, a charming 14-year-old runaway, who attempts to drive Macy to find her father on a motorbike with a sidecar: “And off we flew, looking exactly like my mother’s worst nightmare.” Dispersed throughout the narrative, letters in which Macy introduces herself to her new middle school teacher reveal her hidden struggles: “Here is something that I don’t like: C-H-A-N-G-E!” Macy’s candid narrative voice and expressive observations (“Aunt Liv’s life was like one of the sad country Western songs she played all day”) bring humor and pathos to Penney’s tender, emotionally satisfying story. Ages 8–12. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (June)