Gr 9 Up-This short novel, written in free verse, is a fast-paced and compelling read with some surprising plot twists. Zane Guesswind, 17, has had his share of loss. His Wyandot Indian father ran off and died when Zane was four. His schizophrenic mother finally succeeded in killing herself when he was 15, leaving him and his older brother with their racist grandfather. Prone to seizures, Zane is compelled to write his feelings on his bedroom walls. He fondly remembers Harold in Harold and the Purple Crayon, and thinks that he can control events by writing them on the walls and then rubbing them out. The morning after he erases his grandfather's name from his ceiling, Zane finds the old man dead. Feeling responsible, he steals his late father's 1969 Plymouth Barracuda and his brother's license and credit card. Armed with a six-pack of Mountain Dew, a pack of Sharpies, and a loaded flintlock pistol (another family heirloom), he takes off from Maryland for Zanesville, OH, in order to kill himself at his mother's grave site. Along the way he picks up a girl named Libba. She and the manifestations of his ancestors he meets on his road trip show him his family's history and how he fits into it. Wolf has taken real places and historical figures and events and woven them into a contemporary novel. Despite Zane's misguided actions, he's a typical teen who is smart, sensitive, and a little weird, and many readers will see themselves in him.-Sharon Rawlins, NJ Library for the Blind and Handicapped, Trenton Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

At first this seems to be just another grim story. Thinking he has killed his grandfather, 17-year-old Zane Guesswind drives to his mother's grave, where he intends to kill himself using the same antique flintlock pistol his mother used to end her life. Readers will need to fasten their seat belts, however, as this genre-blending wild ride defies easy categorizing. Told in dramatic free verse, Zane's journey is part history, part magical realism, and all heart-pounding suspense. Along the way, Zane is visited by dead relatives who help him trace his family's history and better understand himself. These visits, in prose chapters, are sometimes comedic (Zane's father appears in a McDonald's drive-up window), and sometimes relate Zanesville history. This unusual mix usually works, although an incident with Zane's brother late in the book pushes coincidence into contrivance. Zane has epilepsy and hypergraphia, and his self-mocking voice is immediate and poignant. Like the previous New Found Land (2004), this book is for an adventurous reader willing to try something different.

<p>Zane Guesswind has a tough life: a family riven by mental illness, substance abuse and suicide, plus his own epilepsy and grief. To exorcise his demons, Zane writes obsessively with permanent markers on his bedroom walls and later on the dashboard of the 1969 Barracuda he commandeers and drives to Zanesville, Ohio. There he plans to shoot himself at his mother's graveside with the heirloom pistol she used to kill herself. En route, he meets the intriguing Libba and assorted characters who each hold a piece of the puzzle that is Zane. Welding the coming-of-age road trip to the verse novel energizes and enlivens both. Assured rhythm and taut pacing, haunting characters and a few surprises make this a good introduction to the genre. While drawing from historical characters and events, Zane's story is mainly about coming to terms with family, the inheritance we cannot refuse. Not all questions are answered at the end, but with Zane as the caustic but compelling tour guide, the trip is well worth making. Author's note and extensive bibliography included. (Fiction. YA)</p>

Zane Guesswind's father left when he was very young. His schizophrenic mother committed suicide several years later, leaving Zane with his older brother Zach and their emotionally distant grandfather. Zane's life is not easy. In addition to being prone to seizures, he feels somehow responsible for the death of his mother. The only thing that seems to help is his compulsion to cover any available surface with writing. The last straw falls when Zane finds his grandfather dead in a chair. He steals Zach's cherished 1969 Plymouth Barracuda, and along with an heirloom Revolutionary War pistol and a set of Sharpies, sets off from Baltimore for Zanesville, Ohio, to kill himself at his mother's grave. Along the way he is visited by the spirits of his parents and ancestors, each of whom fills him in on a piece of his family history. At the end of his journey, Zane is finally able to forgive himself and accept his dysfunctional yet wonderful family. Wolf packs an intense punch with this remarkable novel. He explores such issues as suicide, race relations, and mental illness with compassion and humor. Wolf's poetic, lyrical style places the reader in the "Cuda" with Zane as he passes each mile marker toward self-realization. This novel manages to be suspenseful, funny, and deeply moving at the same time. It could even be considered a ghost story, depending on whether the reader thinks Zane's otherworldly visitors are real or imagined, although in the end it does not matter.-Dotsy Harland.