Amy & Roger's Epic Detour »

Morgan Matson received her MFA in Writing for Children from the New School. A road-trip veteran, she has driven cross-country three times...so far. She currently lives in Venice, California.

Amy Curry thinks her life sucks. Her mom decides to move from California to Connecticut to start anew—just in time for Amy's senior year. Her dad recently died in a car accident. So Amy embarks on a road trip to escape from it all, driving cross-country from the home she's always known toward her new life. Joining Amy on the road trip is Roger, the son of Amy's mother's old friend. Amy hasn’t seen him in years, and she is less than thrilled to be driving across the country with a guy she barely knows. So she's surprised to find that she is developing a crush on him. At the same time, she’s coming to terms with her father’s death and how to put her own life back together after the accident. Told in traditional narrative as well as scraps from the road—diner napkins, motel receipts, postcards—this is the story of one girl's journey to find herself.

Publishers Weekly

In the summer following her junior year, Amy is nursing the loss of her father in a car accident--and the burden of believing it was her fault. With her mother relocating the family to Connecticut and her brother in rehab, Amy is left to get the car from California to their new house. But since the accident, Amy won't drive. Enter Roger, the 19-year-old son of a family friend, on his way to visit his father in Philadelphia. After a few bumps, Roger and Amy are on their way--he to help her face the grief and truth about her father's death, and she to help him move on from a painful breakup. Debut author Matson ably evokes the places, tastes, and tunes of this unforgettable cross-country trip, and the incorporation of b&w photos, receipts, playlists, sketches, and quotations about the states they pass through make it feel all the more real. The duo's budding romance is especially satisfying given the deliciously slow speed with which it builds. A near perfect summer read that should leave readers with a thirst for travel and romance. Ages 12–up. (May)