Rusty Summer

Gr 9 Up—In this sequel to Beau, Lee, The Bomb & Me (Kensington, 2014), Rylee (Rusty) and her friends, Beau and Leonie, embark on another soul-searching journey. On the fringe of their adult lives, Rylee has moved out of her mother's ultra-religious household and into an apartment with Beau. On the flip side, Leonie moved in with Rylee's mother. About to graduate from their Seattle high school, Rylee tries to contact her father, whom she hasn't heard from in years. When her father fails to respond, the trio take off to Alaska in search of him. On the way, they hit a deer in British Columbia, damaging Rylee's van. The road trip turns into a plane trip with a handsome Alaskan bush pilot and an eventful meeting with Rylee's estranged father. Moving slowly, with 70 pages of catch-up before the action, readers may become bored with Rylee's pop culture-heavy narrative. Like in the previous volume, which focused on gay rights and antibullying, this title also expounds on several social issues, cloying the story line to a halt at times with lengthy flashbacks and musings. Though containing subject matter timely and relevant in the lives of today's young adults, the book falls just short of immersing readers into a narrative that has great potential.