🤷‍♂️The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise (2019)

By Dam Gemeinhart

4Rbooks                                    3+/6                grades 6-8

Amazon                                     4.8/5              ages 9-12

Goodreads                                 4.45/5

Common Sense Media               5/5                  age 9+

341 pages

Synopsis

            Coyote, a 12-year-old girl, travels with her father, Rodeo, around the country in a semi-converted school bus. They have been running away from the memories of her mother and two sisters who died in a car crash 5 years ago. Coyote enjoys their travels, but it is hard not staying anywhere long enough to make friends.

            One day Coyote gets a phone call from her grandmother that the city is about to tear up a park where she, her mom, and her sisters, had buried a memory box just before the accident.  Coyote realizes she must get home and find that box before it is too late, it was a promise made to her mother. But she knows her father will never agree to go home, even for something this important.

            Coyote develops a plan to trick her father into going back to Washington (they are in Florida at the time). She’s going to need help and enlists Lester, a passenger they picked up along the way, to help drive so they won’t have to stop.  This starts a new journey across the country.  They will pick up stragglers along the way including Ivan the cat, Gladys the goat, Salvador and his mom, Salvador’s aunt Esmeralda, and Val, who tells them she is 19 but is actually a 17-year-old runaway.

            There will be many adventures and roadblocks on the way as Coyote does everything possible to make her plan work, and to save the memory box, and memories, of her mom and sisters.

Parental Guidelines:     medium-high

Coyote lives on a bus with her dad.  She is getting educated but hasn’t been in school for 5 years. Her dad won’t let them talk, or think, about the loss of her mom and sisters. She hasn’t seen her grandmother in 5 years.

Until Salvador, Coyote hasn’t had a friend in 5 years as they never stay in one place long enough.

There are no facilities on the bus so Coyote and Rodeo use public restrooms and the outdoors to take care of personal business.

They pick up a number of different people on their journey across America including a mother and son running away from an abusive father, the mother’s sister who was abandoned by a boyfriend, and a 17-year-old girl running away from home because she is gay.

Rodeo gets drunk one night and they won’t let him drive the bus.

Mild expletive use and juvenile words for body functions.

They troop break into a theater so Salvador can give a violin performance for his mother.

There is a scary scene of the bus careening down a hill.

Rodeo is arrested for “kidnapping” a runaway minor.

Coyote takes the bus and drives it herself to their final destination, running away from a police officer in the process.

Two different scenes where a character is in their underwear.

An adult character remembers when her mother walks in on her with a boy.

Recommendation

            Books about characters going on a journey must travel a fine line between having just the right amount of action and adventure, and having too many stops, starts, and problems along the way.  There was a point in this book where I was thinking, “just get there already.”

            There is a lot to like about this story, but three things keep me form recommending it:

1.     The life that Coyote and Rodeo live is not right for a 12-year-old girl, and hasn’t been for 5 years.  It’s hard to believe that no one (grandma?) has reported them to child protective services. Coyote is also too clever and street smart and is parenting Rodeo more than he is being a dad to her.

2.     The author made sure to cover as many issues as possible: domestic abuse, failed relationships, gay teen, and grieving over loss and death. It’s a lot for one book, for children.

3.     The language choices were just inappropriate and awkward enough that it is a book that a teacher couldn’t read aloud in class.  It would also be too advanced in topic and tone for an elementary classroom or library.

There are reasons to like the book.  The writing is done well and it’s very emotional.

The relationship between Salvador and Coyote is portrayed nicely with two young people becoming friends. The scene at the park is touching and will bring tears to your eyes.

There is a second book to this series but it’s about another journey that Coyote and Rodeo go on.  I’m not ready to take that trip with them.