As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth

As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins

(audio book)

Has anyone ever told you a story and when it was finished your response was “My, what a small, small world!” I love those stories. At once they are incredibly unbelievable, and yet, they actually happened. Your proof is right in front of you. I also enjoy stories where little bitty pieces all come together into one great big whole. At the end, you stand back and think, “Wow!” how did we ever get here? It is like looking at a thousand piece puzzle once it has been put together. Individual pieces are insignificant alone, but together, you very well might have a work of art.

Okay for Now is a perfect example of literature replicating life. We meet a boy in the here and now. We follow him as he makes choices, some right and some wrong. Through the journey, we get flashes back of just what influences those decisions. And they are believable, credible, in my opinion. The out of the ordinary and even the extraordinary work because the groundwork has been laid. Even though we only read a year in the life of the protagonist, we feel like we know him and we cry and cheer with him.

However, the author, Lynne Rae Perkins seems to delight in the thrill of the “what if.” Her hypothesis travels along this train of thought… When we leave the house in the morning, drop our children off at school and drive to work for the day, we generally assume that everything will be all right. Everything will go according to plan. There will not be any surprises. Our car won’t run out of gas. We won’t be in an accident. Our children will remember all of their supplies to see them through the day – gym clothes, band instrument, essay, science fair project. And perhaps we can survive through the day hoping that all of this is true. But what if it is not?

Perkins’ sixteen-year-old, main character, Ry, is traveling alone on a train to the west towards summer camp. In his carry on is an unopened letter from that camp telling him that camp has been canceled due to unforeseen events. Ry’s parents are on a sort of second honeymoon vacation in the Caribbean and have lost their cell phone to a pilfering monkey. And Ry’s grandpa is house- and dog- sitting in their new home in a new town until they return.

Upon opening the letter, Ry decides to call his grandfather to see what he should do. Not only is there no signal, but Ry notices his battery is running very low. The train stops; Ry thinking he has 45 minutes, sneaks off and climbs a lofty rock outcropping and the train leaves, stranding him in the middle of nowhere. He makes his calls, but his parents don’t answer, see above, and his grandfather doesn’t answer. And he doesn’t answer. And he doesn’t answer. I will tell you – something is wrong there too.

And so Ry jaunts along from one unlikely event to another that takes him by foot, by train, by “car”, by plane and finally by boat with complete strangers. Across country and out of country. Until everything is resolved and his circle of friends grows. And I don’t believe it. And I don’t have to. Because it is a work of fiction. And if my daughter ever considered that she could pull such stunts of stupidity and rely on the kindness of strangers, I would have to beat her senseless. Heaven forbid someone would put the idea in her mind.

I will give Perkins this. Her writing is unusual and at times beautiful. Occasionally her voice as the narrator actually comes through – omniscient author. And she travels places that seriously, you cannot – through misfiring synapses of the brain. And the chapters that reflect the two dogs’ life could actually be the most fun if it were not for their conversations being a trifle confusing. I am more likely to recommend this 2013 Rebecca Caudill Nominee to young adults who enjoy the peculiar.