Misdirected

Berman’s debut introduces 15-year-old Ben Pinter, who has moved with his family from Boston to Forest Ridge, Colo. In addition to being forced to leave behind his friends, Ben’s brother is away serving in Iraq and his sister is at college in New York City, so he’s facing his sophomore year at Christian Heritage Academy alone. Ben is unprepared for life in a town where nearly everyone appears to be a conservative Christian: some classmates at his new school share stories about being saved (a concept Ben is wholly unfamiliar with) during a school-wide assembly, creationism is taught in science class, and Ben’s atheism quickly makes him a target for evangelism, scorn, and bullying. Befriending two fellow outsiders, including a girl he starts dating in secret, helps keep Ben’s spirits afloat, but he continues to struggle daily at school. Berman brings in numerous hot-button issues, but the book’s conflicts and dialogue never escape a preachy, didactic tone, and the characters are little more than mouthpieces for various perspectives and beliefs. Ages 12–up. Agent: Laura Strachan, Strachan Literary Agency. (Nov.)