Starred Review The Way Back from Broken

  • Interest Level: Grade 6 - Grade 12
  • Reading Level: Grade 6

Rakmen Cannon’s life is turning out to be one sucker punch after another. His baby sister died in his arms, his parents are on the verge of divorce, and he’s flunking out of high school. The only place he fits in is with the other art therapy kids stuck in the basement of Promise House, otherwise known as support group central. Not that he wants to be there. Talking doesn’t bring back the dead.

When he’s shipped off to the Canadian wilderness with ten-year-old Jacey, another member of the support group, and her mom, his summer goes from bad to worse. He can’t imagine how eight weeks of canoeing and camping could be anything but awful.

Yet despite his expectations, the vast and unforgiving backcountry just might give Rakmen a chance to find the way back from broken . . . if he’s brave enough to grab it.

Amber J. Keyser’s debut novel is a wrenching and brutally honest story of adversity and hope.

Format Your Price Add
978-1-5415-1488-1
$9.99
978-1-4677-8983-7
$23.99
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Interest Level Grade 6 - Grade 12
Reading Level Grade 6
Genre Young Adult
Copyright 2015
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Carolrhoda Lab ®
Language English
Number of Pages 216
Publication Date 2015-10-01
Text Type Fiction
BISACS YAF058050, YAF018000, YAF001000
Dewey [Fic]
Dimensions 5.875 x 9
Lexile 680
ATOS Reading Level 4.8
Accelerated Reader® Quiz 178204
Accelerated Reader® Points 9.0
Features Author/Illustrator biography, Author/Illustrator note, Awards, Reviewed, and Starred Reviews

Awards

  • Oregon Book Award Finalist, Short-listed, 2017
  • ALAN Pick, Winner, 2015

Reviews

VOYA

“This book is a heartbreaker, but any reader can benefit from its message of honesty, resilience, and courage.”—VOYA

Starred Review Booklist

“With a cast of diverse well-rounded characters, poignant relationships that never become schmaltzy, and a compelling high-stakes adventure, this vivid, moving exploration of grief and recovery hits all the right notes.”—starred, Booklist

School Library Journal

“Rare in its honesty. . . . A subtly touching tale of liberation from grief that, with its sincere existential questioning, will stay with readers.”—School Library Journal

Kirkus Reviews

“A quiet and memorable story of how paddling in the wilderness forces two unlikely friends to face their grief and embrace their power.”―Kirkus Reviews

E. M. Kokie

“An impressive debut novel that takes readers on a journey rich in emotion and adventure.”―E. M. Kokie, author of Personal Effects

Sara Ryan

The Way Back from Broken is compelling and unrelenting—a story for anyone trying to find their own way back.” —Sara Ryan, author of Bad Houses and The Rules for Hearts