If Birds Fly Back

June 19, 2017
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 When 17-year-old budding astrophysicist Sebastian learns that the withdrawn Álvaro is his father, he impulsively leaves Los Angeles to volunteer at the retirement center, too.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. Agent: Claire Wilson, Rogers, Coleridge & White.

April 1, 2017
While both are volunteering at a Miami Beach retirement home, an aspiring astrophysicist and a young filmmaker befriend a famous octogenarian who's presumed dead. Ever since Linny's 18-year-old older sister, Grace, disappeared five months earlier, leaving nothing but a note to take care of her pet turtle, Linny has kept a journal about missing people who've reappeared after weeks, months, and years. Mixed-race Linny's Nigerian mother and "Viking" father fearfully keep a close watch on their remaining daughter and try to keep her focused on their goals of Princeton and med school. The summer before senior year, Linny is performing community service at a retirement community, where she spies 83-year-old Alvaro Herrera, the Cuban-born author of Midnight in Miami, a bestselling book adapted into a cult-movie classic. No one had seen or heard of Herrera in three years, and Linny believes if she discovers why he returned, Grace may as well. Cal Tech-bound science wiz Sebastian finds out that Alvaro is his long-lost father and immediately flies down to Miami to volunteer at the home in hopes of meeting his dad. Linny and Sebastian meet, adventure amiably around Miami on errands for Alvaro, and, predictably, fall in love. The author crowds the dual narration with occasionally distracting excerpts from Linny's journal, a work-in-progress screenplay about Grace, and quotes from Sebastian's favorite physics book. This familiar-feeling if slightly overlong debut should resonate with fans of Morgan Matson, John Green, and Rainbow Rowell. (Fiction. 13-18)

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May 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-In this charming novel about love and missing persons, two quirky teenagers embark on personal quests but end up finding each other. Linny, whose older sister Grace slipped out one night and disappeared, spends her days chronicling famous cases of people who vanished and then came back. When she starts a summer volunteer job at a retirement community, Linny spots a well-known writer who famously disappeared three years ago and was presumed dead. Seventeen-year-old Sebastian, who's about to head to Caltech, detours to Miami Beach when he hears that the father he's never known may be there. As it turns out, Linny's writer and Sebastian's father are the same man, the enigmatic Alvaro Herrera. Linny and Sebastian bond over the respective holes in their lives, all the while pursuing Alvaro for his secrets. The romance between the two bright, mildly troubled main characters-told from both points of view, in alternating chapters-will hook fans of John Green, Sarah Dessen, and Jenny Han. Interspersed throughout, and sometimes too distracting, are details about Linny's missing persons, scenes from the screenplay she's writing about her sister, and Sebastian's thoughts on physics and philosophy. While the plot's central mysteries are perhaps too easily resolved, it's really the story of two sweet and likable teens finding love that makes this novel so appealing. VERDICT Purchase where YA romance and realistic fiction are popular.-Miranda Doyle, Lake Oswego School District, OR

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 Linny and Sebastian have different reasons for getting to know Alvaro Herrera, a Miami author who just reappeared after being missing for three years. Linny wants some insight into what makes a runaway come back, in the hopes that it will help her track down her missing sister. Sebastian, meanwhile, just found out Alvaro is his father. While getting to know Alvaro, Linny and Sebastian get to know each other, too. Linny shares her love of filmmaking, which is utterly at odds with her parents' tightly held vision of her future, and Sebastian lets her in to his obsession with astrophysics. It shouldn't come as a surprise that they fall in love, though when Alvaro's health takes a turn for the worse, both Linny's and Sebastian's abandonment issues rear their ugly heads. Sorosiak's debut tells a sweet love story with plenty of emotional heft, rendered primarily in snippets of Linny's screenplay about her sister, and Sebastian's physics-tinged musings about the nature of the universe and relationships. Fans of brainy romance will likely like this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2017
Sixteen-year-old Linny (in Miami) and seventeen-year-old Sebastian (in Los Angeles) have both experienced loss. Grace, Linny's older sister and best friend, ran away from home, leaving grief-stricken Linny to wonder if she'd ever return. Sebastian, who grew up without a father, is trying to piece together clues about the man's identity. The two teens and their stories meet when Alvaro Herrera, a reclusive writer (beloved by both teens) who'd been missing for three years, shows up at a nursing home near Linny's house. Obsessed with the thought that Alvaro's reappearance could mean the same for Grace, Linny volunteers to work at the nursing home to get closer to him. Meanwhile, Sebastian has learned surprising news about Alvaro's connection to his family and flies to Miami to confront him. Sorosiak uses alternating voices, interspersed with Linny's original screenplays and journal entries as well as select chapters from Sebastian's favorite book of astrophysics, to tell their stories. Though tedious at times, these alternate forms of expression help flesh out the protagonists as Linny and Sebastian find their way through joy, sorrow, and personal heartaches to a more optimistic future. alma ramos-mcdermott

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)