We'll Fly Away by Bryan Bliss

 

We'll  Fly Away by Bryan Bliss is an award nominated YA book that is gritty, suspenseful, and actually a really quick read. Luke and Toby have been friends since they were kids, despite Luke being a champion wrestler and Toby being a bit awkward and rather unpopular. They have always done everything together despite their difficult home lives. Toby constantly lives in fear of his abusive father and Luke deals with being the "man of the house" to his two little brothers since his mom is not around a lot (for a variety of reasons). Regardless of their struggles, Luke and Toby know they can always depend on each other.

Luke's focus on chasing a fourth state championship is threatened when a new girl moves into his apartment complex. He grows close to Annie even though he knows Toby liked her first. This causes a rift between Luke and Toby which sends Toby into a spiral of bad decisions. In an effort to gain his dad's love, or maybe to avoid his fists, he enters his dad's pathetic work of bad decisions. Luke sees Toby spiraling out of control and tries to help, but little does he recognize he, himself, may be spiraling out of control too.

I loved this book. There is definitely mature content (language, adult content, violence), so students should make sure their parents are ok with them reading this. The mature content, though, helps get a very poignant message across by the time the reader finishes. This is definitely a great read.

-TK

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