First published 2019
Molly feels numb after her brother Barry fled home following a bitter argument with their father about Vietnam. Now Barry has been drafted, and their mother insists Molly must travel across America to find him and bring him back. Her cousin Norman will drive them in an old school bus. Norman drums and dreams of discovering his own sound somewhere beyond his small town life, though he worries he's destined to remain ordinary. Neither cousin wants this cross country journey, but their mothers give them no choice. They climb aboard the bus and roll west through an America alive with protests and parades, car races and rock concerts. Each mile brings them closer to San Francisco, where Barry waits, though neither Molly nor Norman knows what they'll discover when they finally track him down. The year 1969 pulses around them as they navigate a country torn between war and peace, tradition and revolution.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, coming-of-age, activism, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, road-trip
Setting: America, San Francisco
Period: 1969
455 pages · Kindle Edition · Scholastic Inc.
Content warnings: war