Disconnected

Sylvia Pantaleo is an assistant professor of education specializing in
children’s literature at Queen’s University in Kingston.

Fourteen-year-old Tanner’s hockey team is traveling from Edmonton to
Vancouver to participate in a tournament. At his physical examination
before the road trip, Tanner tells the doctor that he has been having a
recurring dream in which he is desperately trying to swim away from
something. Tanner believes that the excursion to the coast will help him
to understand the mysterious and frightening dream.

Fourteen-year-old Alex lives in a small coastal community in British
Columbia. Desperate to escape his abusive father and monotonous
small-town life, he runs away to Vancouver, leaving behind

his caring mother and girlfriend. After experiencing the many challenges
of surviving on Vancouver’s streets, a despondent and discouraged Alex
becomes involved in criminal activity; it is this involvement that leads
to Alex’s and Tanner’s lives becoming connected.

Alternating chapters tell the parallel yet destined-to-intersect
stories of Tanner and Alex in this fast-paced and well-written novel.
Although the connecting event that brings Tanner and Alex together may
seem somewhat calculated, both characters are portrayed realistically.
Recommended.