Starred Review Seventeen-year-old Carson has come from New York City to Billings, Montana, to spend the summer with his dying father, whom he hasn't seen in 14 years. Things are different in Billings. For one thing, it's quiet; for another, there are no animals in the Billings Zoo ll, except for a depressed Siberian tiger "with a look of existential despair in his eyes." However, all is not lost, for it is at the zoo that Carson meets Aisha and falls instantly in love. There's only one hitch: Aisha is a lesbian. Carson is disappointed, but, nevertheless, the two form an easy, bantering friendship, and together they set off in search of Carson's grandfather, who vanished when Carson's dad was a teenager. Their goal is to bring the dying man closure, but their quixotic search ends up testing their friendship. And the truth, when it emerges, may be as thorny as, well, a porcupine. Konigsberg (Openly Straight, 2013) employs a colorful style (a day is "warm, like bread just out of the oven," and Carson's new room is "like a remote bunker where people store their afterthoughts") and crafts fascinating, multidimensional teen and adult characters. A friendship between a straight boy and a lesbian is relatively rare in YA fiction and is, accordingly, exceedingly welcome. And that's the truth.

Gr 9 Up-Carson's mother thwarts his summer plans when she drags him from New York City to Montana. He wasn't especially looking forward to working at a frozen yogurt shop, but it couldn't be worse than staying with his ailing (and alcoholic) father, a man he hasn't seen in 14 years. Aisha Stinson has been sleeping at the Billings Zoo since coming out to her ultra-conservative father. After a chance meeting, Carson and Aisha recognize each other as kindred spirits. Aisha comes to stay with Carson's family, and the pair soon unearth family secrets in the basement. They set off on a roadtrip to uncover the root cause of three generations of estrangement. As they pursue a reconciliation with Carson's missing grandfather, both teens wrestle with their own strained family relationships. Konigsberg perfectly depicts the turbulent intensity of a new friendship. Carson is an intensely likable, hilarious, and flawed narrator. There are no true villains in the well-developed cast of characters, just people trying to do their best and frequently failing. VERDICT Konigsberg weaves together a masterful tale of uncovering the past, finding wisdom, and accepting others as well as oneself.— Tony Hirt, Hennepin County Library, MN

Visiting small-town Montana to care for his long-absent alcoholic father, also the child of estranged parents, Carson becomes obsessed with discovering the reason for his grandfather's abandonment. New friend Aisha, homeless since coming out to her family, joins his cross-country scavenger hunt. Smart-alecky dialogue and quirky roadside characters lighten the commentary on religion, secrets, family, and forgiveness.