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More books by Emily France
Description
Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, Essence McKree feels older than any seventeen-year-old she knows. Ever since weed was legalized, Mom has been working in a pot shop, high more often than not. Lately it’s been up to Essa to care for her nine-year-old sister, Puck.
When Essa meets Oliver—a brainy indoor type, in town for the sum...
Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, Essence McKree feels older than any seventeen-year-old she knows. Ever since weed was legalized, Mom has been working in a pot shop, high more often than not. Lately it’s been up to Essa to care for her nine-year-old sister, Puck.
When Essa meets Oliver—a brainy indoor type, in town for the summer—she is cautious at first, distrustful of the tourist crowd and suspicious of Oliver’s mysterious past in Chicago. But Puck is charmed and pushes Essa toward him. Soon Essa finds herself showing Oliver the Boulder she has forgotten: the mountain parties, the long hikes . . . and at Oliver’s urging, the exploration of Buddhism at the local zendo.
When Oliver agrees to accompany Essa on a three-day survival game in the Rocky Mountains, she feels a lightness she hasn’t known in a long time. Then she discovers that Puck has stowed away and followed them into the wilderness. After spending a night stuck in a mountain storm, Essa wakes to find Puck missing. Now Essa must rely on her newfound spiritual strength if she is to save her sister’s life, and ultimately her own.
Media
“Alternatingly laugh-out-loud funny, tear-inducing sad, and goose-bump spooky. This is a mystery with a heart, and one that is very hard to put down”
—Jodi Lynn Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of Midnight at the Electric
“The heart-wrenchingly profound questions will stick with you long after you've finished.”
—Deborah Heiligman, National Book Award Finalist and Printz Honoree, and author of Vincent and Theo
“An irresistible force of nature [that] felt like it was written just for me, and made me want everyone else to read it immediately.”
—Gwenda Bond, bestselling author of The Lois Lane series
“A fast-paced read. Blending romance, thrills, drama, and philosophy, this novel delivers a strong message about being present with life even when it hurts.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Two teens face outsize family responsibility in this thoughtful novel about mindfulness and survival.”
—Booklist
“Memorable. This is a beautiful, gentle, contemplative story certain to both fascinate and educate readers about a new way of encountering the world and all the challenges within it.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Imbued with an exceptionally strong sense of a fascinating place and organized around the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, the novel offers a beginner’s lesson in Buddhist principles as they might actually be lived in a contemporary American setting.”
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books on Zen and Gone
“France’s actors are authentic and easy to relate to. The novel’s Boulder setting is equally well-drawn. Amidst crisis, there is humor, teen angst and – you guessed it, readers – even a little romance.”