The road to wherever

Combining all the best features of a road trip and a coming-of-age tale, Bradley's second middle-grade tale sends 11-year-old June (short for Henry Junior) Ball off in the care of his older "Ford Men" cousins, who set out every summer to track down and repair classic old Fords. His own early travels, the author writes, "taught me that no matter where we come from we are all the same and all basically good," and (with the exception of a rival, comically villainous "Chevy Man") he proceeds from that premise to fill out his supporting cast with quirky but fundamentally decent people. Each has a broken-down car and a story--most notably, perhaps, Mrs. McBean, a retired schoolteacher whose journalist husband was killed 50 years ago by white supremacists, who wants to peel out in his prized Thunderbird one last time before her cancer claims her. The back-roads odyssey, which takes on a ritualistic, dreamlike quality even as it takes the travelers from Wisconsin to Louisiana, of course parallels an inner one as June works through the grief-fueled anger sparked by the sudden disappearance of his dad, a vet with PTSD. Capped by a mystical glimpse of any Ford Man's holy grail--a Model T--in a farmer's shed and a joyful final surprise, the journey ends where it began, while leaving the travelers--and readers who go with them--changed.

A road trip with two quirky cousins helps a boy understand his father, a troubled veteran. Summer sees 11-year-old June set off to travel around the country with Larry and Cornell, his adult first cousins once removed. June, short for Henry Junior, lives in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, with his Mama. Daddy, who drinks and suffers from PTSD, served in Iraq and Afghanistan and has left home. Larry and Cornell spend their summers driving a truck around the U.S. to restore old Fords--and only Fords. They are 100% Ford men who take good care of June and share their passion for and devotion to vintage models. While working on the cars, they also interact with the owners, learning about their stories and offering them as much attention as they lavish on the autos. June gradually learns the business and about his family. He is, after all, named for Henry Ford (whose biased views are named). June gets life lessons in forgiveness and gains a better understanding of his father's problems. As they motor through Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Louisiana, among other places, June not only learns about oil filters, but also listens to the owners' treasured and sometimes painful memories. Along the way he even makes a friend. Car fanciers will relish the details while the family issues will resonate with many readers. Main characters read as White. Offbeat and upbeat. (author's note) (Fiction. 10-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.