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maurakeaney 's review for:
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
by Dan Gemeinhart
3 1/2 stars -- liked it okay, as a novel for middle grade readers dealing with grief and the aftermath the sudden tragic death of the main character's mother and sisters, and how Coyote's life becomes one of tiptoeing around her father's grief to protect him from the enormity of it. As an epic road trip story, it didn't engage me much, as I found each new character added to the school bus to be just a bit too perfectly quirky, a bit too perfectly perfect. I found the emotional resonance of the story between father and daughter to be very realistic, while the plot itself got somewhat annoyingly silly, but younger readers might enjoy the plot twists on the journey back to Coyote's hometown.
Gemeinhart realistically and nimbly depicts the reality of being a child who is a parent's emotional caretaker. And, wow, did Gemeinhart pack a powerful emotional wallop in the final chapters, when Coyote opens her heart and mind to the long-buried memories of her lost family, and when she finds her voice to create healthier boundaries with her father. I could see this being a good read-aloud book for a long family car trip, but expect to be openly weeping toward the satisfying end.
Gemeinhart realistically and nimbly depicts the reality of being a child who is a parent's emotional caretaker. And, wow, did Gemeinhart pack a powerful emotional wallop in the final chapters, when Coyote opens her heart and mind to the long-buried memories of her lost family, and when she finds her voice to create healthier boundaries with her father. I could see this being a good read-aloud book for a long family car trip, but expect to be openly weeping toward the satisfying end.