Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool
In 2011, Clare Vanderpool’s Moon Over Manifest was one of my favourite books. It went on to win one of children’s literature’s most prestigious awards, the Newbery Medal. With her latest novel, Vanderpool once again proves that she is a masterful storyteller. She weaves a wonderful tale of adventure, love, loyalty and belief, and the journey is memorable and moving.
Navigating Early transports the reader to the north-east of the US at the end of World War II. The sense of place is powerfully evoked, and before you know it, you are there on the Appalachian Trail, with two boys on a quest that you are not overly confident will end well.
After his mother’s death, Jack Baker is uprooted from his safe Kansas country world and sent to a boys’ boarding school while his father returns to his naval career. There, Jack meets Early Auden, an odd boy with exceptional knowledge and mathematical brilliance. He is a loner who befriends Jack, and eventually the two embark on a perilous journey to find a legendary bear and a lost brother, two of Early’s obsessions.
Jack just wants to escape the heartache and loneliness he has felt since his mother’s death, but despite her physical absence, she is with him every step of the way. Early and Jack are terrific characters, especially Early, and this is a richly rewarding novel for readers aged 9 and up. I suspect it may be my favourite for 2013.