Reach

A tween struggles to undo the unprecedented result of an impulsive wish in this empathetic speculative novel. Twelve-year-old Denver wants to be left alone to tinker with his robotics experiments; instead, he’s forced to spend the summer entertaining his younger stepbrother Harlan while their parents work at an Idaho lakeside resort. Exploring the nearby forest on his own, Denver is amazed to find he can communicate with the trees, and he forms a friendship with an isolated, ailing ponderosa named Spiro. Things turn sideways when Harlan, who can also talk to foliage, accepts Spiro’s offer to be temporarily transformed into a tree. Promising to check on Harlan later, Denver returns to the resort—and discovers that no one, not even their parents, remembers that Harlan exists. And when Spiro’s forest magic fails to return Harlan to human form, Denver must figure out how to save his brother, and Spiro, before it’s too late. Considering Denver’s complex feelings surrounding his parents’ divorce and his shifting relationship with Harlan, Rimington (Tips for Magicians) forms parallel narratives about the impact of grief and change across families. Denver cues as white; Harlan is described as olive-skinned. Ages 10–up. Agent: Danielle Burby, Mad Woman Literary. (Jan.)