Fitz

Gr 7 Up—Fitzgerald, 15, doesn't know his father, but after finding out that he's moved back to St. Paul, decides upon a desperate plan to meet him. It starts by putting a gun in the man's face. What follows is a touching, if odd, story of a teen trying to understand the father he never knew. He learns what his dad does now, how his parents first met, and, most important, why he left him and his mother in the first place. This is a story that has been told many times in young adult books, but here it's done exceptionally well, and the motivation behind Fitz choosing a gun to get the fatherly attention he's never received yet desperately needs is understandable even if readers don't necessarily agree with it. Quiet scenes between Fitz and Curtis are written with an understated poignant emotionality that allows readers to understand Fitz. Things like feeding sea lions and later having lunch with his father are so strange to him, yet fill a void within him. Even his absentee father somehow becomes a likable character. This is a hard book to put down, and a great one to give to teens trying to make sense of divorce.—Ryan P. Donovan, New York Public Library