
Reach for this book when your teenager is grappling with a grandparent's cognitive decline or is feeling the heavy pressure of family expectations while trying to find their own identity. It is a soulful road-trip novel that follows Hendrix, a boy who promises to take his grandfather, who has Alzheimer's, back to the place where he first fell in love. Along with a girl named Corrina, they embark on a journey that balances the heartbreak of memory loss with the exhilaration of first love and self-discovery. This story is best suited for older teens due to its mature explorations of grief, rebellion, and complex family dynamics. Parents will appreciate how it humanizes the elderly and models empathy during difficult life transitions, making it an excellent bridge for conversations about legacy and letting go.
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Sign in to write a reviewA developing romance between the two teenage leads involves kissing and emotional intimacy.
Characters engage in some underage drinking and there are mentions of smoking.
Occasional strong language consistent with contemporary young adult fiction.
The book deals directly and realistically with Alzheimer's disease and the mortality of a grandparent. The approach is secular and deeply humanistic, focusing on the preservation of story and legacy rather than religious afterlife. The resolution is bittersweet and realistic, acknowledging that while love remains, some things are irrevocably lost.
A 16-year-old who feels like their life is being decided for them by adults, or a teen who shares a deep, protective bond with a grandparent and is struggling to watch them age or change.
Parents should be aware of some underage drinking, light profanity, and scenes involving the physical and mental confusion of a dementia patient, which can be upsetting. It is best to read this with an understanding of the teen's current relationship with their own grandparents. A parent might see their child withdrawing from a sick relative or, conversely, acting out in an attempt to 'save' a situation that is biologically inevitable. You might hear your teen express frustration that 'everything is changing' or 'nothing stays the same.'
Younger teens (14) will focus on the romance and the rebellion of the road trip. Older teens (17-18) will likely connect more deeply with the existential questions of memory, the fear of forgetting, and the burden of family legacy.
Unlike many road-trip YA novels that focus solely on the romance between the leads, this book places the intergenerational relationship at its absolute center. It uses the trope of the 'epic journey' to explore the neurological fading of a mind, making it both a coming-of-age and a going-away story.
Hendrix is a teenager living in a home shadowed by his grandfather G-Pa's fading memory. When G-Pa's dementia worsens and his family considers long-term care, Hendrix decides to fulfill a promise: he will drive G-Pa from Los Angeles to Ithaca, New York, to find the tree where G-Pa and his late wife first carved their names. He is joined by Corrina, a girl with her own secrets and a shared need to escape. The narrative follows their cross-country journey, blending past memories with the urgency of the present.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.