Clara Poole and the Long Way Round
by Taylor Tyng
Intermediate, Middle School    Pixel + Ink    304 pp.
7/23    9781645951599    $17.99
e-book ed.  9781645951605    $10.99

Twelve-year-old Clara Abigail Poole causes quite a scene when she hurtles across the skies of western Michigan in a plastic lawn chair attached to hundreds of balloons. After she crash-lands and is grounded by her father, Clara’s stunt captures the attention of one Harold Habberdish, who arrives from Paris with a proposal: join “the most ambitious and breathtaking adventure race ever conceived,” a hot-air balloon race around the world. Against her father’s wishes, Clara runs away from home—and from the guilt she feels for the accident that killed her mother—and flies to Paris to join the race. Because she is so young and inexperienced, she is partnered with seasoned aeronaut Greta Gildersleeve and her monkey copilots. What ensues is a madcap tale with oddball characters, intrigue, and new friendships made. Tyng’s prose is appropriately light and action verb–driven, complete with sound effects (“Thwack! Pop! Poppity-pop!”). Beyond all the excitement, though, this is, at its heart, a father-daughter story and one about the long road—or flight—toward acceptance and forgiveness. Told with a light touch—lighter than air, you might say.

From the September/October 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.