Gr 7 Up-For years, Roonie has been taking care of her little brother, Daniel, as their mother spirals deeper and deeper into the New World Society. While their mother prepares for Departure Day, the day Society members will be taken up by aliens to another planet, Roonie uses the income from her after-school job to purchase food for the family. In desperation, she reaches out to her estranged father for support. Reconnecting with her father proves unexpectedly disquieting, as he shares with Roonie information that her mother has withheld. However, when her father announces his desire to assume custody of her and her brother, Roonie resists. She assumes life will return to normal after an anticlimactic Departure Day, only to learn that the family's problems are bigger than she realized. In the tradition of Cynthia Voigt's Homecoming and Margaret Peterson Haddix's Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey, Roonie is a teen thrust too early into adulthood. The stress she experiences is palpable as she single-mindedly strives to care for Daniel, the one person she allows herself to love. Years of living on the edge with her irresponsible mother have drained her so emotionally that when she meets Carol, her father's new wife, she is taken aback to realize the woman radiates happiness, and she no longer knows how that feels. VERDICT With an engaging plot premise, a strong, flawed heroine and a touch of romance, this book will fly off the shelf. Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor School District, Lancaster, PA

Rooney Harris dreads November 17, the day her mother plans to depart Earth for a new planet with Rooney and her brother, where humanity can begin anew with the Next World Society (NWS). But Rooney doubts that the extraterrestrial event presumed to unfold in November will occur, and desperately wants to finish her senior year in peace. As she loses more and more of her mom and brother to the NWS, Rooney is left to bear the weight of financial strain and the growing emotional tension at home. Rooney wonders just whom she can rely on, and she must sacrifice to hold the pieces of her family together. Van Dam delivers a touching debut novel through the voice of a forgivably frustrating narrator who captures what it means to be a teenager. What the story lacks in engaging plot is made up in characters readers can't help but worry about, and van Dam artfully explores the strength of familial ties and what defines a home.

Because Rooney's mother truly believes that she'll be departing Earth with the Next World Society this November, it's up to high-school senior Rooney to navigate the pressures of this world for her younger brother and herself. Van Dam thoughtfully considers how mental illness interacts with the scariness of the modern world while simultaneously honoring how hard it is just to get through high school.

After Rooney's mom loses her job and dedicates herself to Departure prep, Rooney tries to keep her family afloat as she enters her senior year of high school.Per her mom's insistence, Rooney learns more about the Next World Society's mission to leave Earth on Nov. 17 for a planet free of humanity's environmental disasters. All of this serves to highlight that Rooney can't rely on her mom in the here and now. In her desperation, she reaches out to her estranged father, who now wants custody of her and her little brother, Daniel. Meanwhile, Daniel begins to show an interest in the cult, and Rooney finds herself more alone than before. The aftermath of Departure day leaves the NWS in tatters, and Rooney and Daniel face an uncertain future—although fortunately they receive help from Rooney's teacher Mrs. Fisher, a Ghanaian immigrant. In her weighty debut, van Dam weaves an emotionally charged tale of betrayal, broken familial bonds, and redemption. Crucially, the author succeeds at zeroing in on Rooney's love for her brother and her resentment toward her mother. This focus, however, falters at times thanks to a lukewarm, predictable romance between Rooney and her best friend, Mercer. Aside from Mrs. Fisher and some racially diverse NWS members, Rooney, her family, and Mercer are all presumably white.A strong portrait of family dynamics. (Fiction. 12-18)

In this YA debut, van Dam offers a family-centered story that takes on faith, doubt, sibling bonds, and mental illness. High school senior Rooney and her little brother Daniel have a complicated home life. Years earlier, their mother joined the cultish Next World Society, which has predicted the end of the world on the coming November 17. According to the cult-s doctrine, that-s when an alien race will return to Earth to transport believers to an unsullied planet for colonization. Despite Rooney-s attempts to convince her otherwise, Mom is a true believer, whose obsession with NWS has contributed to her divorce, job loss, and the family-s current financial woes, which Rooney tries her best to counteract with an after-school job. The ticking clock (three months until departure) and Mom-s behavior as she preps to be taken up by aliens build tension and momentum, and van Dam-s portrait of Rooney, who has to act as a parent, is poignant, layered, and heroic. As November approaches and the reality of the family-s dire circumstances sets in, Rooney must find a way to pull her mother, brother, and herself through in this emotional story. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)