Realistic fiction (main character is a teen, but is not your typical, fast-paced teen book). Aside from the awful cover (which turns out to refer to the emptiness felt within a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house, rather than a girl who runs away from home and disappears into a Mondrian painting), the story is sparse and slow--more about the observation of silences and absences than about things happening or actions being done. If one is patient and interested enough to stick it out, it's supposedly very interesting to discover Mila's unique perspective on the differences among the families, but this is definitely not one I'd recommend to a general teen audience. ( )

Mila has some abilities to sense people's moods and reading a room. She and her dad, Gil, embark on a trip to the United States from London to visit Matthew, Gil's best friend from childhood. The day before their departure, they get a call from Suzanne that Matthew has gone missing, apparently walking out of his life. The two decided to take the trip anyway and spend their time in America trying to find Matthew and put together the pieces of his life.
An interesting read. I don't know the appeal it will have for middle school students. But it kept surprising me with revelations and some really heavy stuff that the adults in the book were dealing with, not always very well. ( )

Didn't care for this book. Boring read, but I did relate to the plot. ( )

Reminder to myself: this is inexcusable author behavior https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2015/11/words-matter-a...

Un romanzo per adolescenti, che porta avanti il punto di vista degli adolescenti. Storia carina ma senza colppi di scena. ( )