Come November

In this YA debut, van Dam offers a family-centered story that takes on faith, doubt, sibling bonds, and mental illness. High school senior Rooney and her little brother Daniel have a complicated home life. Years earlier, their mother joined the cultish Next World Society, which has predicted the end of the world on the coming November 17. According to the cult’s doctrine, that’s when an alien race will return to Earth to transport believers to an unsullied planet for colonization. Despite Rooney’s attempts to convince her otherwise, Mom is a true believer, whose obsession with NWS has contributed to her divorce, job loss, and the family’s current financial woes, which Rooney tries her best to counteract with an after-school job. The ticking clock (three months until departure) and Mom’s behavior as she preps to be taken up by aliens build tension and momentum, and van Dam’s portrait of Rooney, who has to act as a parent, is poignant, layered, and heroic. As November approaches and the reality of the family’s dire circumstances sets in, Rooney must find a way to pull her mother, brother, and herself through in this emotional story. Ages 12–up. [em](Oct.) [/em]