Finding Orion

March 15, 2019
The casket at a strangely festive funeral proves to contain not the deceased but a clue that leads the bereaved family on an epic scavenger hunt.Rion Kwirk, 12, regards his grandfather with wary fascination. Papa Kwirk, a hard-living biker and Vietnam War vet, and Rion's dad, a Ph.D. candy-factory chemist, were semi-estranged. Rion's planetarium-director mom maintained peace on Papa Kwirk's short, friction-filled visits. When news of Papa Kwirk's death arrives via singing clown, the family drives to Greenburg, Illinois, where his sister, Gertie has organized a "funneral." Rion's older sister, Cass, 16, brings her pet python, Delilah (Papa Kwirk was a fan); his younger sister, Lyra, 10, brings a hefty vocabulary. Edgy with Gertie and uncomfortable in his hometown, which carries bad memories, Dad's unsettled by the funneral. Still, curious about the crowd showing up to laud Papa Kwirk, Dad agrees to the hunt. Reflective Rion's an outlier among the aptronymic Kwirks. A convincing preteen when interacting with his sisters and peers, he sounds decades older--wry and nostalgic by turns--when pondering life. There's a time-warp feel to Rion's insular, mostly white world (Tasha, Rion's possible crush, is dark, race unspecified). Recurring jokes include other cultures' burial practices and Rion's fantasy of being orphaned and adopted. The Kwirks' dead-of-night adventure digging up a stranger's backyard prompts gun jokes but not fear.A smoothly written family adventure that evokes both Willy Wonka and The Wonder Years. (Fiction. 8-12)

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March 25, 2019
Rion has always felt that his family is strange, but even he is shocked when news of his grandfather’s death is delivered via a clown with a singing telegram. This is the first of many surprises for Rion and his food scientist father (who engineers jelly bean flavors), astronomer mother, and two sisters following the death of Papa Kwirk—a larger-than-life Vietnam vet who rode a motorcycle and had a knack for giving his grandson inappropriate gifts (slingshots, poker chips). Rion’s father, Fletcher, has never forgiven Papa Kwirk for his absent parenting and is content to bury him without resolution, but that proves impossible when they discover that the casket is empty except for one tantalizing clue: “To find me, start digging in our favorite spot.” Embarking on a treasure hunt to locate the remains of their patriarch, the Kwirks solve family history–based riddles that call into question Fletcher’s recollections of an indifferent, alcoholic father. Eccentric yet believable characters and Rion’s perceptive narration prevent Anderson’s unpredictable tale from feeling overwrought as the relationships between three generations of fathers and sons are rewritten anew. Ages 8–12. Agent: Josh Adams, Adams Literary.

April 1, 2019

Gr 4-6-Rion Kwirk has grown up surrounded by quirks and craves normalcy. At the funeral for his grandfather, Papa Kwirk, the family learns that they must embark on a scavenger hunt to find Papa Kwirk's ashes. In the next 24 hours, the Kwirk family eats 36 scoops of ice cream, climbs a 40-foot tree to retrieve a clue, and fights off thieves in a local museum. Along the way, they learn the truth behind much of Papa Kwirk's behavior, forcing Rion's father to reckon with their long estrangement. Rion also develops a crush on Tasha Meeks, an African American girl whose father runs the local ice cream parlor. The Kwirks are a white family, and most characters are also white. There is a brief, tokenizing mention of Rion's father's lab assistant, Riya, who has a Hindu name and has invented a chutney flavored jelly bean. Like many middle grade titles, the story leavens earnest life lessons and hard realities with humor. Papa Kwirk and a friend are recovering alcoholics, there is a description of a child's funeral, and Rion's father suffered childhood neglect. However, the news of Papa Kwirk's death is delivered via a singing (and cringing) clown, and his memorial service is a "funneral" with bands and food trucks. Rion is a perfect straight man who dryly observes his outlandish family's antics. VERDICT Humor, plot twists, and quirky characters abound in this earnest middle grade tale of self-discovery.-Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library

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April 15, 2019
Grades 4-7 Rion seldom visited his grandfather, mainly because Dad didn't get along well with his father. But Papa Kwirk showed up on a motorcycle every Christmas Eve to give his grandchildren presents ranging from lethal (a combat knife, immediately confiscated by Mom) to creepy (a chipmunk he had personally stuffed). It's a shock when a singing-telegram clown arrives to announce his death. Soon the family embarks on a road trip to Papa Kwirk's small town, attends his unconventional "funneral" (accent on the fun) in a public park, and accepts a scavenger-hunt challenge that leads to surprising discoveries that encourage them to reevaluate the relative they thought they knew. While aspects of the story may strain credulity, readers will be happily swept along by Rion's first-person narration, which is often amusing, sometimes bemused, and occasionally even tender as he shows how his family was unwittingly drawn together by their shared experience. The author of Ms. Bixby's Last Day (2016), Posted (2017), and Granted (2018), Anderson offers another original novel written with wit and compassion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)