Across the Desert

It's summer, and twelve-year-old Jolene spends as much time as she can at the public library.  It's too hot to be outside, and she doesn't want to be in the apartment with her mom.  The highlight of her day is watching the live stream of Addie Earheart's daily flight over the Arizona desert.  She doesn't know Addie in real life, but the two started chatting online once Jolene found the daily flight videos.  

Jolene wants to be a cartographer, and she uses Addie's videos and existing maps to draw out her own version of the desert.  It's almost like having an adventure herself.

Addie is Jolene's only friend.  That wasn't always true, but after the car accident that injured her mother, life was never the same.  Her mom started taking the pain meds prescribed by her doctor, but then she couldn't stop.  Now, it seems like she doesn't care about anything else.  There's rarely food in the house, and most of Jolene's clothes are two sizes too small.  

That's why the daily live stream and the chats are so important, but one day Addie's plane crashes as Jolene is watching.  Then the feed goes blank.  Jolene is the only viewer, and Addie was flying over a vast uninhabited desert.  No one else knows what happened...or even where to look.

As a panicked Jolene tries to reach out to adults for help, it quickly becomes clear no one believes her.  She knows Addie would respond to her chats to let her know if she were safe, but she doesn't.  Jolene can't just leave her friend to die because no one will listen.  That's when she decides to go on the biggest and most terrifying adventure of her life.

I'm a Dusti Bowling fan, and this one does not disappoint.  It's full of the same life-and-death adventure her fans will expect, and she also deals with trauma in a realistic way that is appropriate for middle-grade readers without patronizing them.  Jolene is struggling with the aftermath of surviving a horrible car accident and a stint in foster care, and she's living with a parent who is addicted to opioids.  There are definitely parts of this story that stretch credulity, but Jolene and her internal struggles are very real.  Highly recommended.