“Just the sort of book that saves lives by igniting a passion for reading.” —James Patterson
“Reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn.” —The Wall Street Journal
A Michael L. Printz Honor Winner
From the author of Newbery Medal winner Moon Over Manifest comes the odyssey-like adventure of two boys’ incredible quest on the Appalachian Trail.
When Jack Baker’s father sends him from his home in Kansas to attend a boys’ boarding school in Maine, Jack doesn’t know what to expect. Certainly not Early Auden, the strangest of boys. Early keeps to himself, reads the number pi as a story, and refuses to accept truths others take for granted. Jack, feeling lonely and out of place, connects with Early, and the two become friends.
During a break from school, the boys set out for the Appalachian Trail on a quest for a great black bear. As Jack and Early travel deeper into the mountains, they meet peculiar and dangerous characters, and they make some shocking discoveries. But their adventure is only just beginning. Will Jack’s and Early’s friendship last the journey? Can the boys make it home alive?
An ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection
An ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book
A New York Times Editor’s Choice
A New York Times Bestseller
An Indie Pick
A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A KirkusReviews Best Book of the Year
A Booklist Books for Youth Editors’ Choice Selection
A BookPage Best Children’s Book
A Texas Lone Star Reading List Selection
A Notable Children's Book in Language Arts Book
A Down East Magazine Best of Maine Book
A North Carolina Young Adult Book Award Master List Selection
An Iowa Children's Choice Award Finalist
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
60 of 62 people found the following review helpful.
Wonderful, unique, poignant story
By Jen R
What an amazing, very unique, yet poignant story. It revolves around Jack Baker and Early Auden, two boys at a boarding school in Maine at the end of World War II. Jack is a transplant from Kansas, having moved to the school after the death of his mother, while his dad serves in the Navy. Early is classified as strange, although in today's world he would probably be diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. The boys are hooked together through a variety of circumstances and go on a quest along the Appalachian Trail. Their journey involves Early's story of the number pi and finding what is lost. Pirates, lost souls, a great black bear and star navigating are among what they encounter and discover.This truly is a story of forgiveness and finding those who are lost while trying to find yourself in the process. It is also a story of true friendship. What it means to be a friend and also accept the friendship of someone else. And finally it is a story of the connection we all have to each other, connecting the dots - just as navigators do when using the stars as their guide.I would like to thank Random House for the arc I received from them.
44 of 47 people found the following review helpful.Caught my 11 year old reading in middle of night...
By squeaks1111
I can not share much about the content of this book, but wanted to share that this book "hooked" my 11 year old. He read this book through the weekend, into the late night... which really says a lot about the book.His first question is there a sequel??!! Going to get him the author's earlier book.
53 of 58 people found the following review helpful.Uses the same formula as Moon Over Manifest, but is a unique and wonderful tale of friendship and hope.
By H. Frederick
If you read and loved Vanderpool's heartwarming debut and Newberry Medal Winning Moon Over Manifest and are hoping to find the same depth of humanity in her sophomore novel, Navigating Early, you are in luck. In fact, my greatest criticism about Navigating Early is that it's too thematically similar to Moon Over Manifest, so let me get that gripe out of the way before I can dive into why Navigating Early is such a wonderful read.Both books involve children who are displaced-they have left what homes they knew to take up residence in a new and strange local. Both must learn to navigate their new environments as the new kid. Both have essentially lost their mothers, and both have a strong and wounding disconnect with their fathers. Both stories rely heavily on the power of coincidence or, as Jack's mother would say, "There are no coincidences. Just miracles by the boatload." Both books utilize the technique of stories within stories in order to tell their tale. In fact, Moon Over Manifest and Navigating Early were arranged so similarly that it made it impossible for me to be swept away and fall in love with this new book the way that I was when listening to Moon. I sincerely wonder if there had been more time in between my reading of the two, or if I had read Navigating Early first, which I would prefer. Perhaps Clare Vanderpool will fall into my list of authors who write the same sort of book over and over, but do it so well I love them regardless (this list being headed by John Green, of course).My only final complaint is that those double meaning titles (you know the ones, like Saving Grace, Shattered Glass, that sort of thing) make me gag instinctively-it's like something I would have named a book for a writing contest in 7th grade knowing the judges would all think `Oh! She's so clever.' And then tear up and promptly award me a blue ribbon. Yuck. But regardless, Navigating Early boasts one of my absolute favorite covers of 2013 thus far-I mean look at that water and fog!-so I'd still hang a giant poster of it on my wall.The first 1/3-1/2 of Navigating Early slogs by at a fairly slow pace, but in a way that is necessary to set up for the remaining journey of the book. As a child of a landlocked state, I felt Jack's complete nausea upon seeing the ocean, and as someone who for inexplicable reasons joined the crew team at University, I really pitied Jack's first experiences in a boat attempting to navigate a language and motions that seemed ingrained in others, but to him were completely foreign. Jack is only 13, but he's already learned some of the harsher lessons in life. He knows that nothing lasts forever, and envies those who have yet to see this. When his mother dies, his father returns from years at war to sweep her memory aside and drop his son at a boarding school hundreds of miles away from everything and everyone he knows, without even his remaining parent to comfort him.Early has what we today would identify as Asperger's syndrome, a high functioning form of Autism, though in 1945 he is identified only as strange. In addition, he is a savant with an instinctual understanding and interpretation of math that blurs into synesthesia. Early sees Pi as more than a number-he sees a story, and Jack is the one boy willing to ask Early the all-important question: "Who is Pi?"As Early reveals the story of Pi to Jack, the boys begin to mirror Pi's journey in their search for the Great Appalachian Bear and Early's brother. Jack begins to anticipate where the lines between reality and story will blur, questioning his own sanity as Early's tale seems less and less crazy.Navigating Early is a wonderful story of friendship and finding one's bearings. Throughout so much of this story Jack feels lost, almost stymied by the possibilities before him. Early, on the other hand, maintains his direction. He knows who he is and where he is going, and he helps Jack to do the same-at least enough so that when he himself feels lost, Jack will be there to put Early back on track. In some ways, Vanderpool's sophomore novel is stronger than her debut. She is more sure of herself as she constructs her adventures, more subtle in her connections, and more powerful in developing her characters. This is the nuance I love to see in Middle Grade. Vanderpool doesn't write down to kids, she writes with introspection as one of them, imparting lessons with actions that could do all of us readers some good.
