Navigating Early

Navigating Early

Louise was grinning ear to ear as she held out a book, knowing
if I had to choose between unlimited quanities of candy and the chance
to read Clare Vanderpool's latest novel, the sweets would lose out.
Which is really saying something. She'd secured it by inter library
loan but didn't think she'd have time to read it. Perhaps she knew
someone who would...
Ever since I'd read Clare's Moon Over Manifest I'd been praying
for her to write something else. She has such a spell binding voice,
the ability to create such a compelling world that putting her book
down to make supper or meet some other family need was like swimming
up from the depths of the ocean to adjust to the terrestrial world.
(BTW the folks who award the Newberry Award are in agreement about the
specialness of her writing.) I had no doubt her second novel would
live up to the promise of her first. I was so right! Navigating
Early is the total cat's pajamas.
World War II is finally winding down. Jack, a Kansas boy, has
been uprooted after the unexpected death of his mother by a father who
is basically a stranger to him. As the story begins he's starting a
term at the Maine boarding school he's been enrolled in. The
headmaster urges him to "jump in" to Morton Hill Academy life. "If
you want to sit with a group in the lunchroom, they'll probably let
you. If you want to go off and sit by yourself, they'll probably let
you too."
Jack ends up spending time with Early, the younger brother of
one of the most highly regarded athletes the school ever produced.
Not that he's much like his sibling. He wanders through life,
attending classes when he chooses, living alone in the basement of the
gym building, making up stories about the numbers of the mathematical
concept pi...
As a fall vacation begins Jack finds himself alone with Early
when his father is unable to pick him up. He learns that Early is
about to go on a quest to find Pi whom he's sure is lost, a quest
involving a humungous and probably dangerous bear. Jack joins Early,
reasoning that it would be preferable to be lost together than to be
lost alone. On their lyrical, bittersweet, journey the boys meet very
colorful characters and learn poignant lessons that bring them closer
to coming of age.
If you want to read the book we'll let you. If you ignore my
reviewing and pass up this opportunity we'll let you too. But you'll
be missing out on so much!!!
On a personal note, I had the chance to meet and converse with Clare
several times when she was a speaker at the recent Bangor Book
Festival. I found her to be as amazing in person as her writing is.
Let me tell you, I was living the dream!
A great big shout out goes out to Clare and the other authors who came
to Bangor for this event and to Barbara McDade and the others who did
all the behind the scenes work necessary to make it possible!
Julia Emily Hathaway




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