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Cynthia Weil. Tanglewood (PGW, dist.), $16.99 (232p) ISBN 978-1-939100-14-6

With a theatrical flair for comedy and drama, songwriter Weil (I’m Glad I Did) offers an improbable but hilarious road trip story about three St. Louis teens seeking out their shared sperm-donor father. When the three meet in person, rock-band guitarist Katie “KT” Lambert, who narrates, is disappointed to learn that she’s related to two of her least appealing classmates: “dumb jock” Jesse and “bookwormy nerd” Gabe. Nonetheless, she agrees to join them on a spur-of-the-moment trip west to find their father. Thus begins a series of misadventures and mixed-up identities that has the threesome traveling on highways and back roads to a tattoo artist’s mountaintop retreat, a celebrity golf tournament, and a rock star’s mansion. Fortune and misfortune are painted with broad, colorful strokes, and readers will enjoy predicting how the outrageous adventure will end. Although the protagonists appear stereotypical at first, their family backgrounds and other problems add depth to their characterizations. Besides learning to accept their differences, KT, Jesse, and Gabe come to appreciate what they have left behind. Ages 13–up. (Mar.)