Trailing Tennessee

In his first novel, Mimms plunges readers into the heart of nature in a coming-of-age story set along the Appalachian Trail. After a family tragedy, 14-year-old Eli Sutton takes to the forest. His goal is to hike the trail’s 2,000-plus miles to reach Mount Katahdin in Maine where he plans to carve his name on a tree alongside those of his grandfather and father. Mimms fills his story with authentic hiking details and excels at describing Eli’s mixed emotions about the beauty and dangers of his journey. While Eli encounters his share of “trail magic” (kind fellow hikers who help one another) during his travels, he’s also presented with obstacles that include ailments, creatures from mice to black bears, and maybe even some spirits out of Cherokee legend like skin-walkers, U’tlun’ta, and the Raven Mocker. Mimms occasionally shifts focus to follow Eli’s distraught mother’s desperate search for him, led by an incompetent police force, giving a sense of the repercussions of Eli’s flight. An intense adventure story about overcoming loss both on one’s own and with help. Ages 10–up. (Oct.)