some mature content

Environmentalism issues – Nature & animals vs. Economy & jobs. The author goes back and forth between the home struggle dealing with the main character’s ill father and the larger town struggle on the environmental issue. Also an excellent style of taking what might normally be a non-fiction science text and turning it into dialog between characters in a fiction novel. One could also study the novel’s style to understand how the environmental conflict is a metaphor for the father-son conflict. ( )

stumbled across this book, and i really enjoyed it. a fast read that's not boring or terribly predictable. i liked how the author presented the various sides but didn't project one or the other as the right side unquestionably. i'm no athlete, so it was interesting to hear how a runner thinks about running, be it a race, out in the woods, whatever. also the romance bit about his teacher was sweet and totally believable. mm, in general, a solidly good book i think. ( )

SLJ Best Book of the Year!