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Reviewed by:
  • Zen and Gone by Emily France
  • Karen Coats
France, Emily Zen and Gone. Soho Teen, 2018 [352p]
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-61695-857-2 $18.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-61695-858-9 $10.99
Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10

Unlike her perpetually stoned mother and close friends, Essa has not embraced the weed culture of her hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Instead, she’s adopted Zen Buddhism in an attempt to stay present for her preternaturally intelligent nine-year-old sister, Puck, who’s fed up with a mother who’s too out of it to pay attention to her daughters. When Essa meets Oliver, a guy from Chicago with his own sister problems (his sister is schizophrenic), the two click almost immediately. Essa’s faith is put to the test, however, when Puck disappears on an orienteering excursion. Imbued with an exceptionally strong sense of a fascinating place and organized around the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, the novel offers a beginner’s lesson in Buddhist principles as they might actually be lived in a contemporary American setting. Puck’s staging of her own disappearance is clearly wrongfooted—it’s a plausible move for a kid that smart, but there’s no way a mother so wasted would follow her clues—but her critique of her mother’s desire to escape through substance abuse comes through loud and clear. Oliver’s character is exceptionally well developed and at times downright adorable in his attempts to understand a girl and a culture that seem as unfathomable as any koan, but ultimately Essa, Puck, and Oliver all manage to find their smiles.

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