Life on the open road is a joy to Hazel (aka Hazmat), who loves riding shotgun alongside her dad in their 18-wheeler, Leonardo. Eleven years old and motherless (though Mom's ashes always ride with them), Hazmat is on the verge of teendom, with all the joys and struggles it entails. Through a series of vignettes, readers get to know Hazmat's history and join her on adventures that include a plane crash, a runaway, an abandoned infant, a bus accident, a flood, and more. She and her dad prove ever helpful and heroic no matter the situation. Hazel chronicles all these happenings, hoping to create a TV series. But change is in the air because Dad wants to put down roots in one place and live a "normal" life. But why would they want that when they have such wonderfully unique friends and experiences? Hawes' breezy tale will capture readers' attention, piquing their interest through highway high jinks and keeping them wondering about where Hazmat's adventures will take them next. An original tweak on the road trip story.

Eleven-year-old Hazel loves life on the road with her dad.Her mom died when she was an infant, and for the first four years of her life she lived with Dad's beloved best friends, Mazen and Serena, while her father grieved and got his drinking under control. But now Hazel and Dad drive all over the country, hauling all kinds of cargo, overnighting at truck stops, and sleeping in the cab of their truck, Leonardo, which Dad fitted with comfortable bunks and a starry ceiling. Dad home-schools Hazel on a wide variety of fascinating subjects, and a marble box holding Mom's ashes is always with them. Hazel worries that industry automation and Dad's talk of quitting the road will prevent her from achieving her dream of someday being a trucker, but she's working on a clever, secret plan. Hazel narrates her story at a pace that varies with their activities. There are hilarious moments, some mysticism, and heart-stopping adventures: Encounters with an abandoned baby, a kitten rescued from a plane crash, a teen runaway, and a school van caught in a flash flood highlight their compassion and bravery. Father and daughter learn to understand each other, and when Hazel's ingenious plan succeeds, a momentous decision is reached. Hazel is innocent, wise, trusting, loving, capable, creative-and a total delight; readers will root for her all the way. Hazel and Dad are White; Mazen and Serena are Black.An unusual modern picaresque romp with a lovely message. (Fiction. 9-13)

Eleven-year-old Hazel Sampson—trucker handle Hazmat—narrates this action-packed novel about her long-haul adventures with her father, an English literature professor turned trucker. Following Hazel’s mother’s death a week after her birth, Hazel went to live with family friends Mazen and Serena until her dad “figured out how to stop drinking and start loving again.” Now, the two criss-cross the country in big rig Leonardo, a long-nose Peterbilt, listening to audiobooks, homeschooling from the road, and chatting with the ashes of Hazel’s mother. Though Hazel’s dad fears professional obsolescence in the face of driverless robo-trucks, Hazel aspires to the vocation—if she can find a way to extend the way of life she loves so dearly. As part of this effort, Hazel comes up with an idea to glamorize trucking through film. Through Hazel’s winning, practical voice, Hawes (The Language of Stars) sketches the close relationship between navigator daughter and driver father as well as the memorable cast they find on the road, including an abandoned baby, a teenage runaway who dreams of stardom, and a kitten who’s the sole survivor of a plane crash. The heroine charms completely, as does this portrait of life on the road. Hazel and her father present as white; Mazen and Serena are Black. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown. (Aug.)