Shift »

Jennifer Bradbury’s debut novel, Shift—which Kirkus Reviews starred, calling it “fresh, absorbing, compelling”—was picked as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and made the School Library Journal YALSA Booklist. It is also on numerous state reading lists. A former English teacher and one-day Jeopardy! champ, she lives in Burlington, Washington, with her family.

Imagine you and your best friend head off on a cross-country bike trek.

Imagine that you get into a fight — the cheap s.o.b. won't kick in any cash.

Imagine you stop riding together.

Imagine you reach Seattle then come home alone, still p.o-ed.

Imagine the FBI is now at your college dorm.

Imagine finding out that your former best friend never made it home.

And imagine that he had actually been carrying over $20,000 in cash with him.

Imagine your world shifting....

A tour-de-force about biking, friendship, and the depths of loyalty by a debut novelist who has in fact biked cross country.

Publishers Weekly

For best friends Chris and Win, nothing could be more gratifying than a two-month-long cross-country bike trip following high school graduation. But when Win suddenly disappears somewhere in Montana, and Chris, the narrator, returns home alone to Virginia with only a hunch where his friend might be, Chris's once-firm grasp on reality slowly begins to weaken-especially when Win's overprotective, blowhard father launches an FBI investigation to track down his son. This debut novel transcends the run-of-the-mill alienated-teens-on-a-road-trip plot. While the boys meet interesting people and discover fascinating and gorgeously lonesome parts of the country, they also evolve in ways neither thought possible. Endowing both boys with a heavy dose of idealism, responsibility and self-preservation, Bradbury makes their growth feel genuine and even profound. Chris and readers are equally in the dark about Win's disappearance, making the mystery that much more exciting. Ages 12-up. (May)

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