Navigating Early: Library Edition

Vanderpool, Clare

ISBN 10: 1467650862 ISBN 13: 9781467650861

Publisher: Random House, 2013

Synopsis

At the end of World War II, Jack Baker, a landlocked Kansas boy, is suddenly uprooted after his mother's death and placed in a boy's boarding school in Maine. There, Jack encounters Early Auden, the strangest of boys, who reads the number pi as a story and collects clippings about the sightings of a great black bear in the nearby mountains. Newcomer Jack feels lost yet can't help being drawn to Early, who won't believe what everyone accepts to be the truth about the Great Appalachian Bear, Timber Rattlesnakes, and the legendary school hero known as The Fish, who never returned from the war. When the boys find themselves unexpectedly alone at school, they embark on a quest on the Appalachian Trail in search of the great black bear. But what they are searching for is sometimes different from what they find. They will meet truly strange characters, each of whom figures into the pi story Early weaves as they travel, while discovering things they never realized about themselves and others in their lives.

About this title

Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month January 2013: In her first book since the Newbery Medal winner, Moon Over Manifest, Clare Vanderpool delivers another contender in Navigating Early. Jack and Early, outsiders at their boarding school in Maine, form a friendship that sets them on an epic quest across land, sea, and the depths of their own hearts looking for Pi—the young seeker whose tale Early reads in the numbers following 3.14, convinced that he is lost. On their adventure they find pirates, a ferocious black bear, and finally, resolution and connection in the aftermath of a haunting loss. Vanderpool works magic in this multilayered novel of two stories —that of the boys, and that of Pi--and they dovetail beautifully throughout, culminating in an incredibly touching and gratifying ending. --Seira Wilson

About the Author

CLARE VANDERPOOL's debut novel, Moon Over Manifest, won the 2011 Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to children's literature. This second novel will continue to astound readers with Clare's incredible writing prowess.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1467650862
• ISBN 13: 9781467650861
• Binding: Preloaded Digital Audio Player
• Language: English