Gather

Ian Gray lives in rural Vermont and has taken in a dog he was never supposed to have. The pup, Gather, becomes a steady companion as Ian's life gets harder. He has had to leave the basketball team, find work, and care for his mother, who is trying to recover from an addiction to opioids. Through all of it, Ian is set on keeping the family home.

For a while, things seem to improve. Ian's love of the outdoors and his knack for fixing things lead to jobs helping neighbors. Then an unexpected tragedy sends him and his dog on the run, away from a future that would mean giving up their house and land. Even as the local community rallies to help, the question remains whether Ian and Gather will still have a home to come back to.

Ian narrates in a wry, guarded first-person voice that takes its time getting where it is going. The novel is the debut of Kenneth M. Cadow, and it is a National Book Award finalist and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. It is an emotional story about one teenager's resilience in the face of severe hardship, and it ends on a hopeful note.