Teen Fiction - Body, Mind & Health, Teen Fiction - Family & Relationships, Teen Fiction - Religion & Alternative Beliefs

Chasing Jupiter

Name: Chasing Jupiter
Author: Rachel Coker
ISBN: 9780310732938

by Rachel Coker

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Overview

Scarlett Blaine's life in 1960s Georgia isn't always easy, especially given her parents' financial struggles and the fights surrounding her sister Juli's hippie lifestyle. Then there's her brother, Cliff. While Scarlett loves him more than anything, there's no denying his unique behavior leaves Cliff misunderstood and left out. So when he wishes for a rocket to Jupiter, Scarlett agrees to make it happen, no matter how crazy the idea might be.
Raising the rocket money means baking pies, and the farmer's son, Frank, agrees to provide the peaches if Scarlett will help him talk to Juli. The problem is, Scarlett really enjoys her time with Frank, and finds herself wondering if, someday, they could be more than friends. Just as she thinks everything might be going her way, Cliff suffers an accident that not only affects the rocket plans, but shakes Scarlett's view of God. As the summer comes to an end, Scarlett must find a way to regain what she's lost, but also fulfill a promise to launch her brother's dream.

About the Author, Rachel Coker

Rachel Coker is a homeschool student who lives in Virginia with her parents and two sisters. She has a passion for great books and has been surrounded by them all her life. In fact, as a young child, Rachel helped her parents in a family-run Christian book business. Her gift for writing became apparent at the age of eleven at which time her parents signed her up for a year of lessons with a professional writing coach. When she is not writing or playing the piano, Rachel enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

With a mature voice and descriptive ability that belies her 17 years, Coker (Interrupted) tells the story of Scarlett Blaine, the 16-year-old protagonist of this sweet love story centered on a family in late-1960s Georgia. Scarlett’s eccentric younger brother, Cliff, is bent on learning Spanish and building a space rocket. Together, Scarlett and Cliff endeavor to bake and sell peach pies to fund a trip to Jupiter for Cliff, his birthday wish. Along the way, the Blaine family confronts the hardships of caring for Grandpop Barley, a curmudgeon who loves peanut butter, and Scarlett’s rebellious older sister, Juli. Minor confusions and repetitions mar Coker’s sophomore effort, and not every storyline finds an organic conclusion. Yet the author’s passion, along with her gift for description and pace, make up for these small imperfections, as does the pure charm of the narrative. Ages 12–up. (Jan.)¦

Kirkus Reviews

Scarlett, 16, will need faith to guide her through a series of tribulations. Scarlett's 10-year-old brother, ever-so-winsome Cliff, is perhaps afflicted with some type of high-functioning autism. Somewhat implausibly, Scarlett is the only one in her dysfunctional family who understands him at all. Her older sister, Juli, a budding hippie, is too wrapped up in her boyfriend, her parents are too busy fighting over money and politics--a conflict that never emerges as more than background noise--and her live-in grandfather is losing a battle with Alzheimer's. After a promise to outer-space–focused Cliff, Scarlett starts earning money by baking peach pies so that she can build him a replica of a rocket ship. In this effort she is helped out by the son of the owner of the peach orchard, sensitive, smart Frank. Then there's a terrible accident, heavily foreshadowed, with a nearly unbelievable outcome, and Scarlett must either succumb to despair or find a path to peaceful acceptance through God. Coker, a teen herself, too often lets her authorial voice intrude on Scarlett's narrative, creating attractive (and frequently redundant) sentences that ring false--"I enjoyed the warm, breezy air kissing my windblown cheeks"--and weakens the narrative by too-often resorting to telling rather than showing. The 1969 time period is never well-realized. Christian teen readers may enjoy this average effort by one of their own, in spite of its flaws. (Historical fiction. 11-16)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—In rural Georgia, in 1969, 16-year-old Scarlett Blaine is a people pleaser. She struggles to be the perfect family member and caregiver for her autistic younger brother, Cliff, and her mentally unbalanced grandfather. When Cliff sees Neil Armstrong's Moon walk, he wants to fly to Jupiter and enlists Scarlett and Frank, the local peach farmer's son, to help build a rocket. Scarlett loves Frank, but his crush on her free-spirited, older sister and her parents' fighting leave the teen wondering how to cope with a world turned upside down. Scarlett puts her faith in God and family. This book is recommended for libraries looking to expand their Christian-fiction collections.—Lisa Gieskes, Richland County Public Library, Columbia, SC