AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile
Narrator James Fouhey delivers a playful yet somber narration of this poignant story. Best friends Luke and Toby struggle with abuse, poverty, and the criminal justice system in their North Carolina town. Then, during their senior year, their friendship falls apart. The story switches from Toby’s point of view to Luke’s once Luke begins writing pensive letters to Toby from death row. Fouhey’s deep voice captures the story’s characters, falling flat in only a few instances. Overall, Fouhey’s rich voice adds pathos to this compelling story of exploring love and sex and the mending of a broken friendship. A.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 04/02/2018
Before Luke ended up on death row, he and his best friend Toby dreamed of escaping rural North Carolina in a beat-up crop duster that they discovered in a wooded area. Alternating between third-person chronicles of Luke and Toby’s senior year of high school and Luke’s letters to his friend from behind bars, Bliss weaves together a compelling and raw story. Luke was a wrestling champion with a mother who wasn’t responsible enough to get to work or feed her family. Toby was a smart kid hiding the bruises from his abusive and drunk father. With hard-hitting authenticity, Bliss conveys both the typical dilemmas of adolescence as well as the more sobering and life-altering moments that Toby and Luke are unfairly forced to confront. At its core, Bliss’s story is a meditation on choices—including the momentary lapses of judgment that can derail whole lives, raising the question of whether a single event can or should define an individual. A powerful story of loyalty, betrayal, and crippling family dysfunction. Ages 14–up. (May)
From the Publisher
A smart, rugged, all-too-true story of friendship under fire. Believable characters and page-turning tension. Bryan Bliss is going to be around for a while.” — —Chris Crutcher, author of Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
“We’ll Fly Away asks readers to consider the women and men on death row, not as scary photographs or philosophical arguments, but as actual human beings. People who are flawed, but still have hopes and dreams. People who are capable of transformation and growth. People who are more than the worst thing they’ve ever done. Bryan Bliss has written an empathetic and stirring novel about what it means to fight for the outcasts, the forgotten, and even the hated, reminding us that we all have worth. That we are all valuable.” — Sister Helen Prejean
“A poignant story of loyalty, abuse, and poverty...Readers will easily empathize with quiet, tightly controlled Luke...and goofy, self-effacing Toby. This compassionate and beautifully rendered novel packs an emotional punch.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Bliss weaves together a compelling and raw story...A powerful story of loyalty, betrayal, and crippling family dysfunction.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Complex...Bliss excels at this kind of storytelling, the sort that zeros in on a character and offers a full, vibrant picture of his or her circumstances and choices. ...[Bliss] instills so much raw humanity in his characters that it’s nearly impossible not to empathize.” — ALA Booklist (starred review)
“This fast-paced read will have teens tearing through chapters to find out why Luke is in jail. ... The conclusion will leave them devastated. This is [a] touching book about male friendship for fans of Jason Reynolds.” — School Library Journal
“Bliss creates a layered, well-developed character who makes bad choices but remains redeemable. . . . The unshakable and unconditional bond between the young men is tested and proves true, a ray of light in the darkness of their stories..This book will stick with [readers] for a long time.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
“In this truly tragic story there is profundity at every turn, and readers up for heartbreak will come away understanding more about loyalty, empathy, and redemption.” — The Horn Book
Chris Crutcher
A smart, rugged, all-too-true story of friendship under fire. Believable characters and page-turning tension. Bryan Bliss is going to be around for a while.
The Horn Book
In this truly tragic story there is profundity at every turn, and readers up for heartbreak will come away understanding more about loyalty, empathy, and redemption.
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Bliss creates a layered, well-developed character who makes bad choices but remains redeemable. . . . The unshakable and unconditional bond between the young men is tested and proves true, a ray of light in the darkness of their stories..This book will stick with [readers] for a long time.
ALA Booklist (starred review)
Complex...Bliss excels at this kind of storytelling, the sort that zeros in on a character and offers a full, vibrant picture of his or her circumstances and choices. ...[Bliss] instills so much raw humanity in his characters that it’s nearly impossible not to empathize.
Sister Helen Prejean
We’ll Fly Away asks readers to consider the women and men on death row, not as scary photographs or philosophical arguments, but as actual human beings. People who are flawed, but still have hopes and dreams. People who are capable of transformation and growth. People who are more than the worst thing they’ve ever done. Bryan Bliss has written an empathetic and stirring novel about what it means to fight for the outcasts, the forgotten, and even the hated, reminding us that we all have worth. That we are all valuable.
Booklist (starred review)
Bliss excels at this kind of storytelling, the sort that zeros in on a character and offers a full, vibrant picture of his or her circumstances and choices. ...[Bliss dares] his readers not only to see the depths of human complexity, but to care.
School Library Journal
02/01/2018
Gr 9 Up—This novel explores family abuse, sex, first love, and friendship. Luke and Toby have been best friends since they were kids. Now in their senior year, tensions are rising and their friendship is tested. Luke is a three-time state champion wrestler, known for his hot temper and sticking up for Toby in any situation. Toby defuses tension with his quick wit and humor, while at home his criminal father has begun to take an interest in utilizing his underage son. Both boys have family issues, with abusive fathers and absent mothers, so they rely solely on each other. Alternating between a third-person account of the boys' senior year and Luke's letters to Toby from death row, this fast-paced read will have teens tearing through chapters to find out why Luke is in jail. Once readers have put the pieces together, the conclusion will leave them devastated. This is touching book about male friendship for fans of Jason Reynolds and Matt de la Peña. VERDICT A realistic and emotional story that will be an excellent choice for high school libraries.—Morgan O'Reilly, Riverdale Country School, NY
AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile
Narrator James Fouhey delivers a playful yet somber narration of this poignant story. Best friends Luke and Toby struggle with abuse, poverty, and the criminal justice system in their North Carolina town. Then, during their senior year, their friendship falls apart. The story switches from Toby’s point of view to Luke’s once Luke begins writing pensive letters to Toby from death row. Fouhey’s deep voice captures the story’s characters, falling flat in only a few instances. Overall, Fouhey’s rich voice adds pathos to this compelling story of exploring love and sex and the mending of a broken friendship. A.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2018-02-20
From death row, a young man navigates prison and writes to his best friend in this powerful work of realistic fiction.A poignant story of loyalty, abuse, and poverty is woven throughout a narrative that alternates between flashbacks to Luke and Toby's senior year of high school (presented from their perspectives in the third person) and the present-day experience of Luke's incarceration (told in first person through his letters to Toby). This structure allows the novel to build a slow and gripping tension as it progresses, revealing the horrific events that led to Luke's arrest only at the very end, as the other details of the boys' lives naturally unfold. Both are seemingly white. The two struggle to guard their friendship fiercely even as Toby becomes sexually involved with a likable but troubled young woman and Luke falls for a different girl. The two have been lifelong friends, supporting each other through family struggles—Toby's with a physically abusive father and Luke's with a neglectful mother who leaves him playing a parental role to his two younger brothers. Readers will easily empathize with quiet, tightly controlled Luke, who's college-bound on a wrestling scholarship, and goofy, self-effacing Toby.This compassionate and beautifully rendered novel packs an emotional punch. (Fiction. 14-18
