Review: Detour Ahead
Detour Ahead by Pamela Ehrenberg & Tracy López, illustrated by Laila Ekboir PJ Publishing, 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Judith S. Greenblatt “Someone fell off a bike,” yells Gila. Thus starts the friendship between Gila and Guillermo, each different and extraordinary. We have been inside Gila’s head, so we know her approach to the world is not the usual; she is on the autism spectrum. Guillermo, we find out, has recently moved to Washington D.C. from rural Virginia: his family is from El Salvador. This coming of age story focuses on Gila’s bat mitzvah and Guillermo’s poetry. Gila sees her bat mitzvah as marking the beginning of adulthood, and to achieve greater maturity she needs to be able to handle detours. Guillermo needs to find his identity in a new place, to acknowledge how important writing poetry is, and to overcome his fear of exposing his poetry and his vulnerability in public. Both Gila and Guillermo are well-rounded characters. The point of view of the story mo...