Where Things Come Back

Cullen Witter is seventeen years old and lives in Lily, Arkansas. In the beginning of the story he sees the second dead person in his life which happens to be his cousin Oslo. Then there are reports that the Lazarus woodpecker is not extinct and has been spotted in his town. A few days after the news broke out that the woodpecker has been spotted his brother, Gabriel, disappears. During his disappearance Cullen starts questioning what is and what isn’t. Apparently Gabriel was kidnapped by Cabot who mistook him for Cullen because he wanted to scare Cullen in order to stay away from his ex-wife Alma. Cullen is also on a mission to find out the truth about the falling angels and believes that Gabriel had a part in it and has the ability to talk to God.  Gabriel is missing for a little over ten weeks.

I found this book odd. I felt that for me it was all over the place. There were a lot of small characters in the beginning that don’t get mention in the end. I found it weird how you don’t find out what happened to Gabriel towards the end instead of the beginning. I’m not sure if I would recommend this book to younger readers because I would have a hard time determining their reading and maturity level in order to understand what the novel is about.  

Whaley, J. C. (2011). Where things come back. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Special Note: This book is winner of the Printz Award.