What's Tuesday?

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

This young-adult novel opens with a senior citizen falling face first,
dead, into his soup at supper. For Gary and Elly Shaw and their two
children—Matt, 12, and his older sister, Stephanie—the death of
“Gramps” becomes the catalyst for change. Gary’s statement
“I’ve never done anything crazy in my life” sets in motion a
string of events that sees the Shaws divest themselves of jobs, home,
and other material possessions. Their individual responses to Elly’s
direction “Write down something you’d really love to do” lead the
Shaws to British Columbia, where Gary bungee jumps from a bridge, and
then to Las Vegas, where Elly fulfils a fantasy involving a red-sequined
dress. Matt surprises the family by taking them to England in pursuit of
an anonymous woman whose face appears in a photograph he had found
secreted in Gramps’s Bible. The biggest surprise, however, comes with
Stephanie’s wish.

Though at times reminiscent of a travel guide, this episodic story is a
fine character study that will be enjoyed by those who question
society’s blind acceptance of the regimentation of time. Recommended.