DESERT PASSAGE

A summer journey on a motor scooter becomes a transformative rite of passage for two teenage cousins. Ramón has lived with his cousin Miguel since the age of three. Recently involved in two fights in middle school and nearly expelled with dropping grades, the cousins are in big trouble, prompting Miguel’s father to teach them a lesson before they start high school. While their family goes to Santa Fe, the cousins are exiled to their grandmother’s in rural northern Arizona for a month of chores. But when their grandmother is hospitalized, the cousins are on their own and opt to find their parents using an old Vespa packed with food, sleeping bags and limited money. En route they explore the Grand Canyon and red rocks of Sedona, encounter a helpful youth counselor and inspiring archaeologists and mature from irresponsible boys into “young men on their journey to manhood.” Definitely a “guy” book, with a strong male-bonding subtext that should appeal to boys, who will enjoy Ramón and Miguel’s desert adventures. (Fiction. 11-14)