Synopsis
The minute the school bus carrying Nate Chance and his little sister, Junie, pulls up in front of his family’s farmhouse, Nate can tell something’s terribly wrong: Somehow his father has been wounded by a gunshot. Nate sees him stagger across the yard, then watches as the police take him away.
Then, nothing. Nobody in the family will say what happened, or where Nate’s dad has gone. At school, his best friend, Larry, won’t talk to him, and kids whisper that his dad’s a “psycho.” Back home, police keep showing up with questions for his mom; and then there’s Junie, worried that Mom will sell her beloved pony and counting on her big brother to figure out a way to reach their dad.
But the science fair is coming up, and Nate has a plan. If he can just win first prize with his amazing cloud chamber project, he’ll get to go to the state finals, near the hospital where his dad’s been locked away. And since it was his dad who taught him to love science–and the stars–it seems like maybe the magic of the cloud chamber can bring the family together again, too.
Too bad he has to work on it with the weirdest, most unpopular girl in school, Naomi, with her goofy hair and nutty idea that the two of them should be best friends. The craziest part is, she just might be right.
Publishers Weekly
Johnstone's spot-on preteen tone and easygoing, heartfelt delivery are a comfortable fit for Maynard's wrenching coming-of-age novel. Nate knew that hard times on their small dairy farm and mounting debt were taking a toll on his family. But he couldn't know that his father's despair would lead him to a suicide attempt. When the police take Nate's dad away after he wounds himself, Nate must face some difficult new realities as he tries to figure out what really happened that day and deal with the people who turn on him and his family. Mom and little sister Junie worry what lies ahead, but Nate figures that things will surely improve if he can win a spot in the state science fair-which happens to be held near the hospital where his father is recuperating. Throughout, Johnstone's Nate never lets listeners forget how much the boy steadfastly loves and admires his dad, and hopes for a happy ending-even when everything else in life is a painful jumble. Ages 12-up. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.