Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly
Gr 9 Up—Arlo Santiago, 17, is a lover of all things extreme, from racing his dirt bike through the New Mexican landscape to competing for the highest score on the video game Drone Pilot. However, it may all be just a cover for dealing with the darkness in his life: his mother's death was all-too sudden, his father drinks too much, and his sister is slowly deteriorating from Huntington's disease. In a plot point that borders a bit on the unbelievable, Arlo's life takes a sudden turn when he is recruited by the United States Air Force to fly a real military drone in an effort to catch the leader of a terrorist group hiding in the mountains of Pakistan. On top of that, his talent for dirt bike racing fuels various dangerous stunts throughout the novel. This sophomore effort from Wesselhoeft feels like a combination of poetry and adrenaline, with sometimes mixed, unfocused results. Fortunately, Arlo is a lyrical wordsmith, and at times, readers can feel transported right into his struggle to deal with his emotions. Other times, however, there's so much action that teens will have to hold on desperately for the ride. Still, it makes for a moving story about loss, love, and learning to let go. Give this to fans of similarly amped-up fiction by Chris Lynch and Carl Deuker.—Kimberly Castle-Alberts, Hudson Library & Historical Society, OH