If Birds Fly Back

Aspiring filmmaker Linny Carson doesn’t expect to see Álvaro Herrera at a Miami Beach retirement community on her first day as a summer volunteer: the 80-something author has been missing for years and presumed dead. Linny is immediately drawn to Álvaro, confident that his story will provide insight into the disappearance of her own older sister. When 17-year-old budding astrophysicist Sebastian learns that the withdrawn Álvaro is his father, he impulsively leaves Los Angeles to volunteer at the retirement center, too. In distinctive alternating narratives, Linny and Sebastian begin to connect on multiple levels while working through their feelings regarding their parents (Linny’s expect her to follow a premed track at Princeton, but she plans to study film in California). The enigmatic Álvaro eloquently captures the lasting message of Sorosiak’s debut, an engrossing combination of romance and self-discovery: “Do not let anyone tell you that because you are young you cannot do things. That you cannot feel things. It is because you are young that you can feel everything.” Ages 13–up. [em]Agent: Claire Wilson, Rogers, Coleridge & White. (June) [/em]