Finding Orion

by John David Anderson

Overview

The acclaimed author of Ms. Bixby’s Last Day and Posted returns with an unforgettable tale of love and laughter, of fathers and sons, of what family truly means, and of the ways in which we sometimes need to lose something in order to find ourselves. Celebrate dads and Father's Day year-round with this warm and witty novel for tweens.

Rion Kwirk comes from a rather odd family. His mother named him and his sisters after her favorite constellations, and his father makes funky-flavored jellybeans for a living. One sister acts as if she’s always on stage, and the other is a walking dictionary. But no one in the family is more odd than Rion’s grandfather, Papa Kwirk.

He’s the kind of guy who shows up on his motorcycle only on holidays handing out crossbows and stuffed squirrels as presents. Rion has always been fascinated by Papa Kwirk, especially as his son—Rion’s father—is the complete opposite. Where Dad is predictable, nerdy, and reassuringly boring, Papa Kwirk is mysterious, dangerous, and cool.

Which is why, when Rion and his family learn of Papa Kwirk’s death and pile into the car to attend his funeral and pay their respects, Rion can’t help but feel that that’s not the end of his story. That there’s so much more to Papa Kwirk to discover.

He doesn’t know how right he is.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062643896
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/07/2019
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.50(d)
Lexile:	790L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

John David Anderson is the author of more than a dozen acclaimed and beloved books for kids, including the New York Times Notable Book Ms. Bixby’s Last Day, Posted, Granted, One Last Shot, Stowaway, The Greatest Kid in the World, Keep It Like a Secret, and many more. A dedicated root beer connoisseur and chocolate fiend, he lives with his wonderful wife, two frawesome kids, and a pair of mischievous kitties in Indianapolis, Indiana. You can visit him online at johndavidanderson.org.

Editorial Reviews

Anderson writes beautifully about sadness, as he did in Ms. Bixby's Last Day, which shares the surprising tenderness of this book's characters. Here, however, he leavens a weighty story with humor. Twelve-year-old Orion is an amiable companion with a voice that is witty, world-weary, sarcastic and slouching toward wisdom.

The New York Times Book Review - Lenora Todaro

2019-03-03

The casket at a strangely festive funeral proves to contain not the deceased but a clue that leads the bereaved family on an epic scavenger hunt.

Rion Kwirk, 12, regards his grandfather with wary fascination. Papa Kwirk, a hard-living biker and Vietnam War vet, and Rion's dad, a Ph.D. candy-factory chemist, were semi-estranged. Rion's planetarium-director mom maintained peace on Papa Kwirk's short, friction-filled visits. When news of Papa Kwirk's death arrives via singing clown, the family drives to Greenburg, Illinois, where his sister, Gertie has organized a "funneral." Rion's older sister, Cass, 16, brings her pet python, Delilah (Papa Kwirk was a fan); his younger sister, Lyra, 10, brings a hefty vocabulary. Edgy with Gertie and uncomfortable in his hometown, which carries bad memories, Dad's unsettled by the funneral. Still, curious about the crowd showing up to laud Papa Kwirk, Dad agrees to the hunt. Reflective Rion's an outlier among the aptronymic Kwirks. A convincing preteen when interacting with his sisters and peers, he sounds decades older—wry and nostalgic by turns—when pondering life. There's a time-warp feel to Rion's insular, mostly white world (Tasha, Rion's possible crush, is dark, race unspecified). Recurring jokes include other cultures' burial practices and Rion's fantasy of being orphaned and adopted. The Kwirks' dead-of-night adventure digging up a stranger's backyard prompts gun jokes but not fear.

A smoothly written family adventure that evokes both Willy Wonka and The Wonder Years. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

A smoothly written family adventure that evokes both Willy Wonka and The Wonder Years.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Humor, plot twists, and quirky characters abound in this earnest middle grade tale of self-discovery.” — School Library Journal

“Eccentric yet believable characters and Rion’s perceptive narration prevent Anderson’s unpredictable tale from feeling overwrought as the relationships between three generations of fathers and sons are rewritten anew.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher