Lost in the Sun
by Lisa Graff
Intermediate, Middle School   Philomel   298 pp.
5/15   978-0-399-16406-4   $16.99   g

“I didn’t do it on purpose, obviously,” says twelve-year-old Trent Zimmerman. “Kill Jared Richards, I mean…But accident or not, Jared Richards died, and I was the reason, so what was the difference? Either way, I killed him.” Trent mistakenly shot a hockey puck into Jared’s chest, and Jared, who had a heart defect, died. Now Trent is lost in self-absorption, convinced everyone hates him, and filled with a rage that’s always about to boil over. His parents are divorced, and he avoids spending time with his father; he calls his teacher a “wrinkled old crone”; he beats up a kid; and he’s getting lousy grades. Like the outfielder who loses a fly ball in the sun (per the book’s title), Trent has lost sight of what matters most in his life. After befriending Fallon Little, the “girl with the scar,” Trent gradually sees how his actions have affected everyone around him. Readers may find the story’s pace slow and Fallon’s tale frustratingly unfinished, but Trent’s powerful first-person narrative may resonate with young people who often feel lost in situations beyond their control. Family, friends, and even that old crone Ms. Emerson have been there all along; Trent just had to learn to see them.

From the May/June 2015 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.