Trouble

Henry Smith's father told him that if you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you. But Trouble comes careening down the road one night in the form of a pickup truck that strikes Henry's older brother, Franklin. In the truck is Chay Chouan, a young Cambodian from Franklin's preparatory school. The tragedy sparks racial tensions in the school -- and in the town where Henry's family has lived for generations. Caught between anger and grief, Henry does the only thing he feels he can: he sets off for Mt. Katahdin, which he and Franklin had planned to climb together. One July morning, he leaves for Maine with his best friend and the loveable stray, Black Dog, in tow. But when they encounter Chay Chouan on the road, fleeing demons of his own, Henry learns that turning a blind eye to Trouble only brings Trouble closer. . . With moments of humor, tenderness, and remarkable strength, Henry and Chay travel a path to the mountain that neither of them expects. Gary D. Schmidt is the author of The Wednesday Wars, which won a Newbery Honor, and also of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, which won both a Newbery Honor and a Printz Honor. His other novels for Clarion are Straw Into Gold and Anson's Way. He is a professor of English at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jason Culp is an accomplished actor of stage and screen, with audiobook performances for bestselling authors John Irving and Peter Straub. He lives in New York City and is currently working on a novel of his own.