CLOUD HOPPER

Teenagers try to solve a mystery and help a girl who won’t speak.

Sophie Blanchard, named after the famous French balloonist, lives with her Grandma Aubrey in a rural farming area known for its hot air balloons. Her grandmother, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, stepped in when Sophie’s mother abandoned her. Wyatt and K, Sophie’s best friends, also know deep loss, though, like Sophie, they don’t speak much about it. One day, the three witness a one-person balloon, or cloud hopper, meeting with a terrible accident. They rush to save the life of the girl piloting it and then—when she will not speak and no one shows up to claim her—try to discover her identity. Backed up by suspicions as to why she is keeping quiet, the three embark on a mission to help the girl and, along the way, find that they may have also helped themselves. Evocative, slightly surreal, charcoallike illustrations are scattered through the text, and the prose is poetic as it delivers harsh truths about dealing with grief and loss while facing frightening circumstances. This novel touches on family, immigration, and leading with compassion. Readers will quickly get a feel for the characters, even secondary ones, and empathize with their complex, sometimes lightly unearthed stories. Main characters are white by default; some secondary ones are Latinx.

A moving story about what makes a family and making a home wherever you end up.