Finding McHenry

The stories that saved him might swallow him…

On a quiet summer morning in a tiny rural town, eight-year-old Riven Smith disappeared from his yard. Nobody heard a thing. His ten-year-old next-door neighbor Lily had always considered Riven a pest, following her around all summer asking questions and telling stories about fairies and gnomes. Worse, he was a weird pest whose mom didn't believe in phones or eating meat or snack cakes. However, once he was gone, she couldn't stop imagining him hurt or scared or dead, and his absence burrowed a hole into her heart that didn't heal.

Five years later he comes back: darker, broken, mysterious, and yet still the little boy who'd disappeared. He brings with him pain and secrets and challenges, and Lily vows she will be the friend to older Riven that she hadn't been to the younger one, no matter the cost.

That's when she meets Fairyland, the world in Riven's head that kept him company for his long absence. Little does she know the danger, heartache, and wisdom it will require to merge Riven's worlds and bring him safely home in every way. Nor does she know how much she'll grow and learn while she does it. 

Who knew a pesky little next-door neighbor with a dimpled smile and a bag of homemade granola in his shorts pocket could change a girl's whole world?

Finding McHenry is a book of healing, love, friendship, and danger, with a little bit of crazy on the side. A Christian teen read that's just as appealing to adults, it's part of the Snack Cake Chronicles Christian young adult novels. Read them in any order, tales about growing up, growing in faith, and learning to love.