The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart

The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart. 240 p. Scholastic Inc., January 27, 2015. 9780545665735. (Review from arc provided by publisher)

Twelve-year-old Mark has spent most of his short life battling cancer and has just received word that it's back and it's bad. He's done now. All he wants to do is take his dog and climb Mount Rainier, a trip his grandpa promised him once he got better. But Grandpa died and Mark isn't getting better so he's going. Now. Despite the fact that it's winter. Despite the fact that he's never climbed a mountain. Despite the fact that his medicine makes him nauseous but if he doesn't take it he gets blinding headaches. 

Mark's quite the little schemer. He purchases a bogus bus ticket, ditches his clothes and takes the train wearing a backpack containing about a hundred dollars, his camera and trusty notebook into which he writes haiku. He carries Beau, his dog, in a duffle. He tells no one of his plans, not even his best friend, Jessie. But he does leave a message in their secret place. Once Jessie pieces the clues together, she's in a bit of a fix morally. While she wants to honor Mark's wishes, she aches for his heartbroken parents especially when a snowstorm bears down on the area.

Her POV is told in half-chapters. They are short and intense. His chapters are marked by miles from his destination. While his journey is not easy, suspension of belief is required especially if one is familiar with terminal illness, mountain climbing in general and Mount Rainier in particular. Gemeinhart was smart and kept details suitably vague. Young readers won't notice. The book will have wide appeal - from readers who love weepies to those who want adventure/ survival to those who want a story with a great dog. I must admit to feeling a tad angry at Mark, not for what he put his parents through (well, maybe a bit) but for what he put his dog through. That dog, man, what a great dog.

Confession time. I wasn't eager to read this book - yet another cancer book. This one being compared to TFIOS, a book I did not particularly care for, didn't make me want to read it either. In fact, the cover colors sort of evokes TFIOS. Add to that the knee-jerk reaction I get to HYPE and, well, I just was not rushing to read it. Perhaps my own recent pas de deux with the disease added to my disinclination. Also I think I'm a bit hard on cancer books going all the way back to me at 14 reading Love Story with rolling eyes instead of crying eyes. (Well, maybe a little.) Nursing school and my first career as a nurse added to my propensity to be hard on these books. Don't get me wrong. I love a good cry over a book but a cancer book has to be amazing for me to love it. 

Oh, I will cry. It doesn't take much to get me bawling. I just won't love the cancer book. It's too dang easy to write. Most adult readers have some experience with the disease and bring their own emotions that are all too easily tapped. Writing a good cancer book for kids, especially middle grade kids, which is where The Honest Truth is being marketed, is trickier. I can think of only three I would call amazing: Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, (okay four, its companion, After Ever After) by Jordan Sonnenblick; Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nichols and Me, Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. The first three told compelling stories while nailing the medicine and showing the disease in all its messy ugliness but staying solidly middle grade. Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, is solidly YA and is perhaps one of the bravest cancer books for its irreverence and rather unlikeable main character.

Oh, contemplating an unlikeable main character made me think of a fifth memorable cancer book - Jenny Downham's Before I Die. Oh! How I raged at Tessa! I read it with my ears while shoveling about seven inches of snow off my driveway. I was so involved in Tessa's story, the driveway was done and I didn't remember doing it. Of course, I got her motivation but she still wreaked havoc on her poor devoted dad. I didn't like her and felt guilty for not liking her because she was dying for crying out loud. And this is is a good time to circle back to Mark and The Honest Truth because this is a review of that book for crying out loud. 

While Mark did not reach the level of unlike-ability for me that Tessa did, I am clearly reacting to the choices of both teens as a parent. Actually, I didn't dislike Mark. I just found his decision incredibly selfish and impulsive and poorly planned. Kids won't. So add The Honest Truth to your school or public library collection and get out there booktalking it. I booktalked the book without reading it first (something I rarely do) back in early December. I had an extra arc so I gave it to the eighth grade LA teacher who brought her classes in for the booktalks. She reports it hasn't been back on her shelf since. Trust me, it'll be a go-to book. And do keep an eye out for this promising author's sophomore book. Not too much pressure, eh Mr. Gemeinhart?