Sorry You’re Lost

Blackstone (A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie) returns with a humorous and graceful novel about seventh-grader Denny Murphy, who is trying to keep it together in the aftermath of his mother’s death. The narrative opens with Denny’s mother’s funeral, where Denny can only focus on the priest’s pathetic speech and his own underperforming deodorant, then picks up several months later, with Denny acting out wildly at school. The title refers to a misspelled note of condolence that Denny receives, but it also accurately reflects his state of being, as he flounders with his withdrawn father and his peers. The novel’s middle-school dynamics are particularly strong, especially Denny’s relationships with his oddball and entrepreneurial best friend Manny—who talks like an aristocrat and cons Denny into selling candy in the halls—and Denny’s crush, the studious Sabrina. Denny and his father’s inability to communicate, despite their shared loss, lends a stark and raw tension that eventually boils to the surface in this poignant account of a boy grappling with a gaping void in his life. Ages 10–14. Agent: Michelle Andelman, Regal Literary. (Jan.)