NORMAN TUTTLE ON THE LAST FRONTIER

When Norman Tuttle’s father asks, “Rough road, isn’t it Norm?,” he means the road he and Norman are driving along. But it’s also the road traveled by a son growing up and an adult learning to be a father. For Norman, growing up in Alaska, every advance down the road seems matched with a pothole. He has a grownup time fishing with his father, but he falls off the boat. Given another opportunity, he plasters his father in the face with exploding jellyfish. Bodett, a kindred spirit of Garrison Keillor, offers 15 linked stories that follow Norman from age 13 to almost 16, through first date, first gun, and first party when the parents are out of town. Adventures, humor, and first-rate screw-ups make for lively, folksy storytelling laced with poignancy and wisdom—readers will enjoy being along for the ride. (Fiction. 12+)