{"product_id":"navigating-early-isbn-9780307930651","title":"Navigating Early","description":"\u003cb\u003e“Just the sort of book that saves lives by igniting a passion for reading.” —James Patterson\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Reminiscent of \u003ci\u003eHuckleberry Finn.\u003c\/i\u003e” —\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A Michael L. Printz Honor Winner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e From the author of Newbery Medal winner \u003ci\u003eMoon Over Manifest\u003c\/i\u003e comes the odyssey-like adventure of two boys’ incredible quest on the Appalachian Trail.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e When Jack Baker’s father sends him from his home in Kansas to attend a boys’ boarding school in Maine, Jack doesn’t know what to expect. Certainly not Early Auden, the strangest of boys. Early keeps to himself, reads the number pi as a story, and refuses to accept truths others take for granted. Jack, feeling lonely and out of place, connects with Early, and the two become friends. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e During a break from school, the boys set out for the Appalachian Trail on a quest for a great black bear. As Jack and Early travel deeper into the mountains, they meet peculiar and dangerous characters, and they make some shocking discoveries. But their adventure is only just beginning. Will Jack’s and Early’s friendship last the journey? Can the boys make it home alive? \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection\u003cbr\u003e An ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book \u003cbr\u003e A \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eEditor’s Choice\u003cbr\u003e A \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Bestseller\u003cbr\u003e An Indie Pick\u003cbr\u003e A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year\u003cbr\u003e A\u003ci\u003e School Library Journal \u003c\/i\u003eBest Book of the Year\u003cbr\u003e A \u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eReviews\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of the Year\u003cbr\u003e A \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e Books for Youth Editors’ Choice Selection\u003cbr\u003e A \u003ci\u003eBookPage\u003c\/i\u003e Best Children’s Book\u003cbr\u003e A Texas Lone Star Reading List Selection\u003cbr\u003eA Notable Children's Book in Language Arts Book\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eDown East Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e Best of Maine Book\u003cbr\u003eA North Carolina Young Adult Book Award Master List Selection\u003cbr\u003eAn Iowa Children's Choice Award Finalist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Just the sort of book that saves lives by igniting a passion for reading.” \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e–James Patterson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/u\u003e, January 1, 2013:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Clare Vanderpool deftly rows this complex, inventive novel — her most recent since her Newbery-winning 'Moon Over Manifest' — to a tender, surprising and wholly satisfying ending.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cb\u003e, January 18, 2013:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An emotionally believable and moving work of magical realism.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cb\u003e, June 22, 2013\u003c\/b\u003e:\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"A beautifully written  adventure.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cb\u003e, January 13, 2013:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The hallmark of 'Navigating Early' is abundant adventure...The friendship between Jackie and Early and the Morton Hill Academy episodes overall have the flavor of Wes Anderson's delightful summer camp movie, 'Moonrise Kingdom.'\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStarred Review, \u003cu\u003eSchool Library Journal\u003c\/u\u003e, March 2013:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Readers will find themselves richly rewarded by this satisfying tale.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStarred Review, \u003cu\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/u\u003e, November 19, 2012:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“This multilayered, intricately plotted story has a kaleidoscopic effect, blurring the lines between reality and imagination, coincidence and fate.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStarred Review, \u003cu\u003eBooklist\u003c\/u\u003e, December 15, 2012:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Newbery Medal-winning author Vanderpool’s sharp, honest narrative, sparkling with the stars of the night sky, pieces together an elaborate, layered plot with precision, weaving multiple threads into a careful, tidy conclusion perfectly suited for those, like Jack and Early, who want to believe.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStarred Review, \u003cu\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/u\u003e, November 15, 2012: \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e““Returning to themes she explored so affectingly in \u003ci\u003eMoon Over Manifest\u003c\/i\u003e, Newbery Medalist Vanderpool delivers another winning picaresque about memories, personal journeys, interconnectedness—and the power of stories.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cb\u003e, February 2013:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This story of a poignant friendship of two heartbroken boys shifts quickly among genres...moving into territory more often claimed by high fantasy quests, heroic epics, wilderness adventures, and even mysteries. The incorporation of these familiar tropes give the book broad and fascinating appeal, and those that trust Early—and Vanderpool—to lead them through the treacherous woods will be pondering and debating the surreal experience for some time to come.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Horn Book\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cb\u003e, March\/April 2013:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"While the writing is as minutely observant as it was in the author’s Newbery-winning debut, \u003ci\u003eMoon over Manifest\u003c\/i\u003e, this book has a stronger trajectory, developed by the classic quest structure that emerges when Vanderpool sends the boys into the Maine wilderness.\"CLARE VANDERPOOL's debut novel, \u003ci\u003eMoon Over Manifest,\u003c\/i\u003e 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.The first time you see the ocean is supposed to be either exhilarating or terrifying. I wish I could say it was one of those for me. I just threw up, right there on the rocky shore.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e We'd flown to Maine a few hours earlier on a military cargo plane. The big beast lurched and rattled the whole way while my father read over some manuals on naval preparedness and coastal fortification. I felt queasy before boarding the plane, was nauseous by the time we were over Missouri, and clutched the barf bag over most of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. The captain--my father, that is, not the pilot--didn't say anything, but I knew he had to be thinking his son would never make it in the navy with such motion sickness. Besides, my green face wouldn't go well against a smart navy uniform. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, still not used to being around him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e I was nine when he left, and he'd been gone for four years in the European Theater. When I was younger, I thought that was a place where they showed movies. But from what he said, and more from what he didn't say, there was nothing make-believe about it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Last spring, the war in Europe started winding down, and my mom and I were looking forward to my dad's homecoming. We'd have our own welcome-home parade, with streamers and cowbells and homemade ice cream. I could imagine my father in his crisp blue uniform, with all his medals for bravery pinned above his breast pocket. He would plant a kiss on my mom's cheek and he'd ruffle my hair like he always used to.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But when my father came back to Kansas, it wasn't for a parade. It was for a funeral. My mom's. It was a misty day in July. Mom would have liked that. She always said that for her frizzy hair, a steady drizzle was the next best thing to a permanent wave.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e So, long story short, there was no ice cream. My mom wasn't there for him to kiss. I wasn't nine anymore, so he didn't ruffle my hair. And from the start, we seemed less like father and son and more like two strangers living in the same house.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e I guess that shouldn't have been a surprise, though. When he'd left I was a kid reading superhero comic books on the living room floor, waiting for my mom to call me to wash up for supper. When he came back, I was a thirteen-year-old boy with no mom and a dad I barely knew. And I didn't believe in superheroes anymore.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Anyway, that was how I ended up in a cargo plane heading to Cape Fealty, Maine, and Morton Hill Academy. It was the nearest boys' boarding school to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where my father was stationed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e After a bumpy landing, a military jeep drove us to the school. As we approached Morton Hill Academy, I read the words etched into the arched stone entryway. It was the Marine Corps' motto: Semper Fidelis--\"Always Faithful.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e We passed through and arrived at the dormitory. Arrangements had been made with Mr. Conrady, the headmaster, to get me enrolled at this late date in August, and for that I should have been grateful. But right then, the only thing I was grateful for was that I would soon be out of that jeep and standing on solid ground.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Headmaster Conrady greeted my father by his first name and shook my hand so firmly I winced. He led us on a sweeping tour of the campus. Morton Hill Academy was a prep school for boys established in 1870, but from the names of buildings and fields he mentioned, I thought it must have been a military school. He pointed out the two classroom buildings, Lexington Hall and Concord Hall. Lexington was the upper school, for ninth through twelfth grades, and Concord was for sixth, seventh, and eighth. He showed us the dormitories: Fort O'Brien for the high school boys, so named for the fort built near the site of the first naval battle of the Revolutionary War. Camp Keyes, for the younger boys, was where I would be stationed--I mean staying. Pershing Field and Flanders Field House, the former named for a general and the latter for a battlefield in World War I, were the athletic field and gymnasium, perched at the top of a hill overlooking the ocean.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The newest buildings were the Normandy Greenhouse and Dunkirk Commons, aka the mess hall. When Headmaster Conrady pointed out the white clapboard chapel, I wondered whether there might be at least one structure with a softer name, like Church of the Good Shepherd or Chapel of the Non-Weapon-Bearing Angels. No such luck. Armistice Chapel was a place of peace, but only if you signed the treaty and sat at attention.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The remaining building from the original 1870 campus--and the only structure that had escaped the onslaught of military names--was the boathouse, affectionately called the Nook.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e When Headmaster Conrady prepared to leave us at the dormitory, he had a few words in private with my father. I gathered from the look on his face and the occasional glance at me that he was expressing his condolences for the loss of the captain's wife and offering words of assurance that the school would provide a healthy environment for his queasy son.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In a louder voice meant for me to hear, Headmaster Conrady said, \"We'll take good care of him. He'll be a new man when you come back for the Fall Regatta.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e I didn't know what the Fall Regatta was. It sounded like a dance, although at an all-boys school I didn't know who we'd be dancing with.","brand":"Yearling","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299778318565,"sku":"NP9780307930651","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780307930651.jpg?v=1767733587","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/navigating-early-isbn-9780307930651","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}