Joe Speedboat

Book excerpt: “A brilliant coming-of-age story with an outlandish twist . . . this wonderfully weird novel is not one to miss.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review After a farming accident plunges him into a coma for six months, Frankie Hermans wakes up to discover that he’s paralyzed and mute. Bound to a wheelchair, Frankie struggles to adjust to a life where he must rely on others to complete even the simplest tasks. The only body part he can control is his right arm, which he uses obsessively to record the details of daily life in his town in Holland. But when he meets Joe—a boy who blazed into his sleepy rural town like a meteor while Frankie slept—everything changes. Joe is a centrifugal force, both magician and daredevil, and he alone sees potential strength in Frankie’s handicaps. With Joe’s help, Frankie’s arm will be used for more than just writing: as a champion arm-wrestler, Frankie will be powerful enough to win back his friends, and maybe even woo P.J., the girl who has them all in a tailspin . . . From the award-winning author of These arethe Names, Joe Speedboat is “[an] offbeat story of a group of boys searching for meaning . . .This work conjures John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany but with a lighter touch” (Library Journal). “Witty, thoughtful and surprisingly tender.” —The Independent