Mayday

Gr 5–8—Wayne Kovok is a descendant of Dalton war heroes from the Revolution to the present, as his grandpa reminds him constantly—though he also reminds Wayne that he is a Kovok, not a Dalton. His dad, the Flee, promises trips to concerts but shows up with T-shirts after he's gone by himself—if he shows up at all. Finally, there's Wayne's sort of girlfriend, who clearly thinks she can do much better. Wayne fights all this negativity with an encyclopedia of facts to plug into awkward silences. So when he and his mom survive a plane crash, following the burial of his Uncle Reed at Arlington, and Wayne loses his voice, communication with his family gets even harder. Wayne's is an authentic, funny, and sometimes sarcastic teen voice, which comes through clearly, even when he can't speak out loud. As the narrator, he is the fulcrum of the story, but other characters are defined, distinct, and developed. Family relationships are realistic, sometimes painfully so, as Wayne fights to find his own voice both figuratively and literally. The story is a bit long, with a few too many strands, all of which are resolved in the end, somewhat improbably. However, the positive aspects outweigh the few flaws in this sweet tale of survival, heroism, and the search for strength.