RAFT OF STARS

Two boys involved in a shooting flee into the Wisconsin north woods and build a raft to escape down a raging river.

Rural Wisconsin in the mid-1990s is the setting for Graff’s memorable story of loss, violence, adventure, and redemption. Ten-year-old Fischer “Fish” Branson, spending the summer on his grandfather’s farm, knows his friend Bread has too many bruises. When he witnesses Bread’s father beating the boy, Fish reaches for the man’s gun and fires it. In the shooting’s aftermath, the boys flee into the great north woods and build a raft so they can ride the river and escape the adult world. But Fish hasn’t told Bread the truth about their final destination. Their pursuers are trying to outrun their own sorrows, too: Teddy, Fish’s grandfather, a stoic Korean War veteran; Cal, the town sheriff, who doesn’t want to be sheriff anymore; Miranda, Fish’s wilderness-savvy mother, who has suffered her own losses; and Tiffany, a purple-haired free spirit who works at a gas station, secretly longs for Cal, and writes poetry in her spare time. Awaiting them all are dangerous rapids no raft can survive. The action sequences are exciting, though the reader has to overlook a few unlikely scenarios and coincidences to follow this journey (why would Cal, who has no experience in the Wisconsin woods, take off on horseback without attempting to organize a larger, more efficient search party?). Still, Graff’s characters have heart to spare, and his affection for this rugged part of the country is infectious. His coming-of-age story offers us nostalgia and escape, and he reminds us that while freedom can be elusive, the people who love you always make your life worth living.

A nostalgic coming-of-age story that plays out in a wild, intriguing setting.