Picture Me Gone, by Meg Rosoff
Mystery
First line: “The first Mila was a dog. A Bedlington terrier. It helps if you know these things.â€
Booktalk: 12-year-old Mila was named after her grandfather’s dog, who died 80 years ago, and sometimes she thinks that she has some dog-like traits. For example: she has a good sense of where she is, and where she’s going. She can sense people’s feelings. She is determined. She notices small details. And she’s very, very good at following a trail.
These all come in handy when her dad’s best friend Matthew disappears right before Mila and her dad are supposed to go visit him. They fly from London to New York, only to find that Matthew is still missing, leaving behind his wife, baby, dog, and years of secrets. So Mila and her dad set off on a road trip across the northeast, looking for clues, hoping for the best, and putting together the scattered pieces of Matthew’s difficult life.
Part road trip novel, part mystery, and part exploration of what it means to grow up, grow apart, and lose everything, Picture Me Gone is the perfect book for a thoughtful reader.
Similar titles: Paper Towns (John Green), The Green Glass Sea (Ellen Klages), She Is Not Invisible (Marcus Sedgwick)
Watch a really great book trailer here!