Bringing Back Kay-Kay

Debut author Kothari centers adventure, poetry, and an indelible sibling bond in this character-driven mystery set in India. Tween Lena loves her older brother Kay-Kay, 15, even though Lena can’t seem to do anything right by their parents, who put Kay-Kay on a pedestal. Then Kay-Kay doesn’t return after two weeks away at summer camp. Because he left his backpack and friends behind on the train ride home, the police assume he is one of many runaway teens, despite Lena’s parents’ insistence that would never be the case. Vowing to track down her brother, Lena embarks on a clandestine investigative journey. During her quest, she discovers that her studious, seemingly perfect sibling was a secret poet; she uses his poems as clues to determine where he might have disappeared to and why. Contemporary India is depicted in sparse yet palpable detail via Lena’s urgent first-person narration in which she speaks directly to Kay-Kay. While this missing person mystery is action-packed, it is Lena’s devotion to her brother, rich inner world, and meditations on her complicated feelings for her family and her culture that drives the story forward. Ages 10–14. (Oct.)