Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 13, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0385739370
ISBN-13: 978-0385739375
Age 14+
352 pages
Buy Here for $11.98
My Rating: 5/5
It all begins with a stupid question:
Are you a Global Vagabond?
No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.
Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward.
But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.
Kirsten Hubbard lends her artistry to this ultimate backpacker novel, weaving her drawings into the text. Her career as a travel writer and her experiences as a real-life vagabond backpacking Central America are deeply seeded in this inspiring story.
The Verdict:
One of the ways that Ms. Hubbard has defined the term Wanderlove is "... the places you get. The places that stick in your heart." For me those are the perfect words to describe Wanderlove the book as well!
Now I may be a little partial to the premise of this story since 1) I have always wanted to be a backpacker and 2) Kimya Dawson's My Rollercoaster is the soundtrack to my life. In fact that song is a pretty decent definition of Wanderlove itself. But I digress... Wanderlove is a story that pulls you in right from the first chapter and is told in such beautiful writing and description that you only wish you could be in all the gorgeous places Kirsten so beautifully describes.
For me a special touch to Kirsten's writing of this book is how autobiographical it fells. She is a backpacker who has traveled to all the places she writes about in Wanderlove and she is also an artist who took a break for a while like Bria. But you get to see her mega drawing skills throughout this book! :)
And one of my favorite parts is that Wanderlove has gone interactive as well. Kirsten has set up a website where people have shared their own special places... if you pay attention you will even find mine ;)
I could go on and on about how much I love this book, but I think everyone just needs to pick up a copy and experience it for themselves. It's like travel after all... words just can't equate to being there.
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