No Matter the Distance

Baldwin (The Stars of Whistling Ridge) pulls from her own experience with cystic fibrosis, as outlined in an author’s note, to construct an insightful telling of a tween living with CF via affecting free-verse poems. Eleven-year-old Penny Rooney can’t believe her eyes when she spots a dolphin in her North Carolina backyard creek. But after Penny learns her best friend Cricket is moving away and she experiences her worst CF flare in years, her passive interest in the visiting dolphin, which she names Rose, develops into an emotional, psychic bond, through which she and the dolphin share mental images of their experiences. When experts from the nearby Duke University marine biology station come to investigate the dolphin’s appearance, they reveal that Rose is ill and must either return to the ocean or risk further health complications. As Penny wrestles with devastating farewells to both Cricket and Rose, she struggles with worsening flare-ups. Penny’s challenges with loneliness and letting go while managing CF are sincerely detailed, potently centering specific accounts of the daily realities of a girl living with a chronic illness, and how those experiences shape the world around her. Characters cue as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. (Feb.)