The Pull of Gravity

Blending Steinbeck and Star Wars, this debut novel with a touch of magical realism leads two teens on a weekend road trip to fulfill a secret mission. With a workaholic mother, an older brother heading to college and an out-of-work, 395-pound father who spends all his time on the couch, high-school freshman Nick doesn't get much attention, especially when his father walks (literally) out of their house in Albany and back to his roots in New York City. To top it off, his fatherless best friend (and Yoda aficionado), Scooter, has Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare and incurable disease that speeds up the aging process. Then Jaycee, who's also lost her dad, convinces Nick to join her in granting Scooter's dying wish: locate Scooter's father in Rochester and give him Scooter's signed first edition of Of Mice and Men. Nick's first-person narration and authentic teen voice give insight into this typical boy who wonders why, in the middle of thinking about his dying best friend, all he really wants to do is kiss Jaycee. Although the teens' best laid plans go oft awry, they discover that the force of the universe is with them—or at least friendship, family and romance. Pulls the heart in all the right places. (Fiction. 12-16)

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