Stepping Off

March 15, 2024
Grades 8-11 *Starred Review* The summer of 2019 is an idyllic time for 16-year-old Jesse, who realizes that he's in love with both Ava and Chloe, the neighborhood girls he has grown up with in the Pennsylvania vacation community where his NYC-based family spends summers and weekends. In contrast, March 2020 becomes traumatic: his previously stable family is shaken by his parents' arguments, denials, and inability to set things right. With COVID-19 shuttering the businesses and schools, Jesse is sure of just one thing: he wants to live in Pennsylvania for the duration in order to reconnect with Chloe and Ava. He's having a hard time sorting out his emotional attachment to them as individuals, but in his heart, he knows which girl he longs for and which one, if he's lucky, will remain his best friend forever. Narrated by Jesse, the story benefits from his self-deprecating wit and his straightforward (but occasionally wrongheaded) assessment of situations and people. The author of Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie (2005) and Falling Over Sideways (2016), Sonnenblick offers another riveting reading experience. Teens drawn to the idea of a love triangle will find romance and more, including loss, believable characters, and a satisfying conclusion, in this absorbing novel.

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April 1, 2024
A teenage boy faces love, loss, heartbreak, and hope in Sonnenblick's latest. Jesse Dienstag's life is divided into two worlds. In his hometown of New York City, he attends an elite STEM magnet school, deals with family drama, and feels isolated, even while surrounded by millions of people. He much prefers the comfort and camaraderie he finds in Pennsylvania, where he spends weekends and summers at his family's vacation home in Tall Pines Landing, a community whose motto is "The real world isn't real!" Tall Pines has the added benefit of also being the summer home of Chloe Conti and Ava Green, childhood friends who suddenly spark new feelings in Jesse. When tragedy strikes halfway through the summer of his 16th birthday and the hits and losses carry over into the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jesse is forced to reconcile with the truth that the real world is, in fact, very real, and that part of growing up is learning to let people go. The characters are well developed, multifaceted, and easy to empathize with. The languid pace of the summertime chapters evokes a sense of peace and comfort, while the panic and uncertainty surrounding the early days of the pandemic will deeply resonate with many readers. Main characters read white; Jesse's and Ava's families are Jewish. A bittersweet look at coming of age before and during a worldwide pandemic. (Fiction. 12-18)

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