The Lost & Found
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
An imaginative and unconventional YA novel that “crackles with wit, humor, and enormous love” (Booklist, starred review).
Frannie and Louis met online when they were both little and have been pen pals ever since. They have never met face-to-face, and they don’t know each other’s real names.
All they know is that they both have a mysterious tendency to lose things. Well, not lose them really. Things just seem to mysteriously disappear.
When they each receive surprising news in the mail, they set off on a road trip to Austin, Texas, looking for answers—and each other. Along the way, each one begins to find, as if by magic, important things the other has lost.
And by the time they finally meet in person, they realize that the things you lose might be things you weren’t meant to have at all, and that you never know what—or who—you might find if you just take a chance.
“The characters and the road trip alone are a winning combination. The premise is where the magic happens.” —Adi Alsaid, author of Let's Get Lost and Never Always Sometimes
“A rich, romantic story about two thoughtful teenagers on a quest for meaning.” —Publishers Weekly
“A beautiful exploration of loss. An emotional journey that’s well worth the ride.” —School Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Frances and Louis live on opposite sides of the U.S., but they have been in touch for years through an online chat group for those coping with trauma. (Frances has lost her parents one to jail, one to a mental institution while Louis feels responsible for the accident that cost his sister her legs.) After Louis gets a tennis scholarship and a letter from Frances's late mother reveals shocking (and probably untrue) details about Frances's "real" father, the two make plans to meet each other in Texas and answer burning questions about their identities and futures. Frances and Louis have heavy psychological burdens, but Leno (The Half Life of Molly Pierce), alternating between the teens' perspectives, uses their optimism and sense of humor to bring lightness to the story. Leno takes her time building each protagonist's present and the past that informs it, which while helpful for character and background draws out the wait until their inevitable meeting. But patient readers will be rewarded with a rich, romantic story about two thoughtful teenagers on a quest for meaning. Ages 13 up.
