Farewell Tour of a Terminal Optimist

Gr 9 Up—Fifteen-year-old Connor Lambert is bright and funny; he has also been living with cancer for most of his life. He lives with his Mom, but misses her because she works all hours to make ends meet. Connor also misses his little sister who died in accident years earlier, and he misses his Dad, who is incarcerated, and no one will tell him why. He is tired of the limits his condition places on his life, so Connor teams up with his former bully/new best friend Skeates to run away and begin a wild excursion through the country side to visit Connor's dad in prison and get some answers. The only problem—Connor forgets his life sustaining medications and ends up running from police and local street thugs. He also learns to ski and goes clubbing. This adventure novel is set in present-day Scotland has a lot of cultural and Gaelic-language references. This is a funny, fast-paced celebration of friendship that is is uplifting even while dealing with illness and mortality. There is even a Spotify playlist of 15 songs mentioned for teens to listen to.