Here in the Real World by Sara Pennypacker
“I loved Pax and know what a wonderfully spare writer Sara Pennypacker is. If anything I think she has an even better book here. Ware is a character to fall in love with; he brings internal life to what it is like to be different. I found parallels with through out the book with my eldest son, who had many characteristics in common. He gives a voice to all those who don’t feel they fit in; but Sara Pennypacker recognises that what he feels is universal, each of the other characters has the same fears and Ware discovers these on the way. I loved the way the geography of the story takes on the life that Ware and Jolene are giving to it and the descriptions of the transformation of the partially wrecked church and lot are jewel like. It is a gorgeous book and ends with the sense that, despite the obstacles in the way, everything is going to turn out okay.”