Noggin

by John Corey Whaley

First published 2014

Travis Coates remembers dying at sixteen. His head was severed and frozen in a Denver facility. Five years pass. Doctors attach his head to another person's body. Travis wakes up in the same teenage brain but everything else has shifted. His bedroom looks different. His parents have aged. His best friend has moved on. His girlfriend might not be his girlfriend anymore. Travis faces a strange problem. He feels like the same person inside but the world treated him as dead. Everyone grieved and changed while he was gone. His family rebuilt their lives. His friends made new memories. His girlfriend dated other people. Now Travis must figure out how to fit back into a life that continued without him. He wants his old relationships back but five years created gaps he cannot bridge easily. The old Travis and this new version of himself must somehow coexist. He discovers that coming back to life means accepting that some things cannot return to how they were.

Genres: fiction, science-fiction, coming-of-age, contemporary

Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: fish-out-of-water, second-chance

Setting: Denver

Period: 5 Years

340 pages · ebook · Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Content warnings: death

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