Upon arriving in Ecuador with Layla, her flaky, globe-trotting mom, 15-year-old Zeeta has no idea that this latest move will prove any different from the whirlwind to which she has become accustomed. Then she meets Wendell, an Otavaleño boy her age adopted at birth by a white couple from Colorado, and agrees to help search for his biological parents. Descending into a mystery rife with small-town secrets, Zeeta struggles to control her feelings for Wendell. At the same time, her mom has a freak accident that results in some serious self-examination and begins acting responsibly, observing social norms and, much to Zeeta’s distress, spacing out in front of the television. The characters fairly brim with life in this thoughtful, poignant novel filled with cultural details. The writing is simple but evocative—“Far above, the gray peaks wear long, green robes, swirling into valleys, rippling into smooth mounds.” The story’s too-neat ending may strain believability for some readers, but this is a minor detraction to an otherwise remarkably engrossing, layered work. (Fiction. 12 & up)
