Description

From Printz Honor winner and Morris Award finalist Jessie Ann Foley comes a comitragic YA novel that will appeal to fans of Jandy Nelson and Jeff Zentner.

As the youngest of eight, painfully average Pup Flanagan is used to flying under the radar. He’s barely passing his classes. He lets his longtime crush walk all over him. And he’s in no hurry to decide on a college path.

The only person who ever made him think he could be more was his older brother Patrick. But that was before Patrick died suddenly, leaving Pup with a family who won’t talk about it and acquaintances who just keep saying, “sorry for your loss.”

When Pup excels at a photography assignment he thought he’d bomb, things start to come into focus. His dream girl shows her true colors. An unexpected friend exposes Pup to a whole new world, right under his nose.

And the photograph that was supposed to show Pup a way out of his grief ultimately reveals someone else who is still stuck in their own. Someone with a secret regret Pup never could have imagined.

Winner of the 2020-2021 North Star YA Award

Named to YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults List

About the Author

Jessie Ann Foley is the Printz Honor–winning author of the YA novels The Carnival at Bray, Neighborhood Girls, Sorry for Your Loss, and You Know I’m No Good. For middle graders, she has written Breda's Island and the forthcoming Severe and Unusual Weather. Her work has been named to best-of lists by Kirkus Reviews, ALA Booklist, YALSA, Entertainment Weekly, and many other outlets and has been featured on school and library recommended reading lists all across the United States. Jessie lives with her family in Chicago, where she was born and raised. You can visit her online at jessieannfoley.com.

Praise For…

“Luminous, wise, lyrical, and hilarious. Pup Flanagan is the best sort of underdog hero. This book’s pages can barely contain the hugeness of its beating heart.” — Jeff Zentner, author of the NYT Notable Book The Serpent King

“Foley deftly paints a portrait exploring the different ways that grief and loss affect the members of a loving yet broken family. An introspective novel about the healing power of art with light touches of tears, laughter, and romance.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Printz Honor winner Foley takes readers through tenderhearted and sometimes painfully funny observations. It’s a narrative that is threaded through with incredible feeling. A warm and clear-eyed examination of a family swimming through grief and a boy who finds the light.” — ALA Booklist (starred review)

“There are wonderful moments of levity, but ultimately the book is a poignant examination of the loss of a loved one during the time between adolescence and adulthood. Written with Foley’s keen ear for family dynamics, this is definitely a strong choice.”
— School Library Journal

“Invaluable.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Through confident, expressive narration, Foley...provides an affirming conclusion to this delicately told coming-of-age story.” — Horn Book Magazine

“Well-delineated characters and Foley’s subtle hand distinguish this moving novel.” — Publishers Weekly