Coyote Sunrise

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
Dan Gemeinhart
Holt/Macmillan, 2019 341 pages
Grades 4-7
Realistic Fiction

Coyote has been living on a converted school bus with Rodeo, her Dad, as they crisscross the country, letting the road lead them. They have been in deep mourning ever since a traffic accident that killed Coyote's mother and two sisters. A small crack erupts in their cocooned existence in the form of a kitten Coyote picks up for free at a rest stop. She convinces Rodeo to let the little guy stay and opens the window-just a little-to let others in. After a call to her grandmother Coyote learns that the park near her former home is being bulldozed. She and her mother and sisters hid a memory box in the shade of one of the trees and she is determined to collect that box. Only, how can she talk Rodeo into returning to a town filled with memory landmines? Coyote becomes determined to trick Rodeo into retrieving the box, letting strangers onto the bus to help with the driving and into their lives. By the time they cross the country, back to Washington State, Coyote and Rodeo gain more than the memory box. They walk away with a fresh commitment to each other and a new family of folks with whom to journey on the road of life.

This new book by Gemeinhart will find a ready audience in the middle readers of the trending problem novel. Coyote and Rodeo's story is so sad that it truly broke my heart and I understand why Rodeo chose to take to the road. The book does not remain sad. There are very funny bits right from the start that will entertain readers and lighten up the heavy underlining premise. I love a road trip book filled with quirky characters and this title certainly is all that. I read a review that criticized the novel for not developing the secondary characters enough. The story is told in the first person and we are seeing everything from Coyote's eyes. A twelve year old only sees others as they relate to themselves and no characters, especially adults, are particularly developed in the narrative of their own lives. Rodeo was crushingly flawed, yet loving, and both he and Coyote experience considerable growth throughout the story. I found this book hard to put down and I became emotionally attached to its narrator. Young readers will feel the same way and I have already recommended it to a few. This will be a great title for book discussion and I have already added it to next year's line-up.