Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2015)

Abigail's family, newly arrived in San Francisco from North Carolina, prays for ascension in the Rapture. When the world doesn't end, her parents choose to live in their van while awaiting divine guidance, testing Abigail's faith in God and family. This debut novel's depiction of a middle-class, suburban family's transition to life on the streets sensitively explores family, sacrifice, and everyday faith.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Abigail's parents have sold all of their possessions and left their home in North Carolina to join Brother John as he and his followers prepare for the end times in San Francisco. When the end does not arrive according to Brother John's prediction, Abigail, her twin brother, and their parents live in the family van, the only possession they have left. The family has to move their van from place to place in San Francisco, searching for places to park for the night. They are living from hand to mouth, never certain from where the next meal might come. Laundry, bathing, and the things Abigail had taken for granted are now things of the past. Abigail begins to lose hope and perhaps her faith.Bliss has beautifully captured the fear and doubt of teens in his debut novel. Abigail and her twin brother, Aaron, argue about how to handle the situation in which they find themselves. The novel manages to avoid stereotypes of the pastor and his believers and offers no easy answers to the questions raised by Abigail and her brother.Teri S. Lesesne.

School Library Journal (Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

Gr 8 Up-This haunting and elegiac tale opens with Abigail and her family living in a van parked on the San Francisco streets. Months earlier, Abby's unemployed father took the family from their North Carolina home to follow "Brother John" across the country to a place where they would all meet the end of days together. The world was due to end at midnight on New Year's Eve. Now it's January, the world did not end, and Abby, her twin brother Aaron, and her parents still have no home. With no school to attend, Abby and Aaron's only escape from the close confines of the van is the predatory self-anointed preacher's "church" (an empty store). The family is often hungry, cold, and dirtyyet do not consider themselves "homeless." Aaron has hooked up with a group of homeless teens who hang out in the park and has begun a secret relationship with Jess, a street-smart girl who left home at 14 when her mother's boyfriend sexually abused her. Abby wants to continue to be the good girl her parents expect and to protect her brother from getting mixed up in dangerous street drama, but most of all, she wants to go home. The protagonist's desperation is palpable. Readers will wait anxiously for something terrible to happen, only to come to the dawning realization that it already has. Bliss offers a stark portrayal of a family lost and a searing perspective on homelessness. An interesting choice for book discussion and recommended for readers of realistic fiction. Tara Kehoe, New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center, Trenton

ALA Booklist (Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

Twins Abby and Aaron's parents sell all their belongings to drive across the country to the San Francisco store-front church of charming huckster Brother John to await the end of the world. But the end times never come, and since her father gave all their money to Brother John, Abby and her family are left living on the streets of the city and sleeping in their van. Aaron is furious, but Abby clings desperately to her faith not only in God but also in her parents, whom she believes will surely take them home any day now. But when Aaron gets hurt and Brother John convinces Abby's parents to leave his fate in God's hands alone, she takes a stand. The stark tone in Abby's first-person narrative effectively captures the uncertainty and danger of street-kid life as well as her anger about Brother John's destructively self-righteous religious conviction. This gut-wrenching story carefully explores belief with nuance and sensitivity, particularly when Abby considers the difference between faith in God and faith in an institution.