Realistic fiction (main character is a teen, but is not your typical, fast-paced teen book). Aside from the awful cover (which turns out to refer to the emptiness felt within a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house, rather than a girl who runs away from home and disappears into a Mondrian painting), the story is sparse and slow--more about the observation of silences and absences than about things happening or actions being done. If one is patient and interested enough to stick it out, it's supposedly very interesting to discover Mila's unique perspective on the differences among the families, but this is definitely not one I'd recommend to a general teen audience. ( )

Mila has some abilities to sense people's moods and reading a room. She and her dad, Gil, embark on a trip to the United States from London to visit Matthew, Gil's best friend from childhood. The day before their departure, they get a call from Suzanne that Matthew has gone missing, apparently walking out of his life. The two decided to take the trip anyway and spend their time in America trying to find Matthew and put together the pieces of his life.
An interesting read. I don't know the appeal it will have for middle school students. But it kept surprising me with revelations and some really heavy stuff that the adults in the book were dealing with, not always very well. ( )

Didn't care for this book. Boring read, but I did relate to the plot. ( )

Reminder to myself: this is inexcusable author behavior https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2015/11/words-matter-a...

I was thankful for a sick little boy as it gave me some time on this three day weekend to get some reading done. I cannot remember how this book came on my radar but I had ordered it in December and it's been sitting on my shelf begging me to read it. I loved this book for the mild mystery as well as the voice of Mila, the main character. She is a young girl from London who travels to upstate New York with her father to investigate the disappearance of her father's best friend. What she learns from this is that adults are confusing and that growing up is hard. I could see this book being used in a coming of age theme or as a page turning independent read. I plan on putting in my library collection and book talking it! It will be checked out, I can tell. It's a great mystery story that also makes you think about what happens when you do find out the truth. ( )