With exceptional sensitivity, Reinhardt (How to Build a House) chronicles a soldier’s troubling homecoming, in this timely novel told from his younger brother’s point of view. Three years after joining the Marines and serving overseas, Levi Katznelson’s brother, Boaz, returns to his Boston suburb a hero. But he seems to be a different person: withdrawn and uncommunicative. After isolating himself from the family, Boaz announces his plans to hike the Appalachian Trail, yet Levi suspects his brother has another itinerary in mind. Using a route marked on a map Boaz left behind, Levi follows Boaz’s path and eventually catches up with him. Walking side by side with his brother all the way to Washington, D.C., visiting ex-Marines and soldiers’ families along the way, Levi learns more about his brother’s experiences--like why he’s stopped riding in automobiles--than Boaz can explain outright. Refraining from making political judgments about current conflicts, Reinhardt personalizes a soldier’s traumas in terms civilians can understand. Levi’s growing comprehension of Boaz’s internal turmoil is gracefully and powerfully evoked. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2010:
"The emotional journey is leavened with humor and a little romance, but it moves toward the conclusion with an inevitability that grabs and doesn't let go. Every character contributes and brings a point of view that adds to a fuller picture of the personal consequences of war without being simplistically pro or anti. Powerful."

Starred Review, Publishers Weekly, August 30, 2010:
"With exceptional sensitivity, Reinhardt (How to Build a House) chronicles a soldier’s troubling homecoming, in this timely novel told from his younger brother’s point of view . . . Reinhardt personalizes a soldier’s traumas in terms civilians can understand. Levi’s growing comprehension of Boaz’s internal turmoil is gracefully and powerfully evoked."

Starred Review, Booklist, October 1, 2010:
"Reinhardt’s poignant story of a soldier coping with survivor’s guilt and trauma, and his Israeli American family’s struggle to understand and help, is timely and honest."

When Levi's older brother Boaz returns from war and sequesters himself in his room for weeks on end, Levi seems to be the only one who really finds it troublesome; everyone else just makes excuses for him. When Boaz does come out, he goes everywhere by walking, refusing to drive or enter cars, he barely communicates beyond single words or grunts, and essentially shuts Levi and the family out of any thinking he might be doing. Levi wants his big brother back, but nothing Levi tries seems to draw him out. As maps go up on Boaz's bedroom wall, Levi resorts to a little cyber-snooping to try to figure out what his secretive, enigmatic brother is planning. With the help of his two best friends, spunky Pearl and laid-back Zim, Levi is able to follow Boaz when he finally hits the road for a personal journey and quest that is revealing, frustrating, and satisfying for both brothers. This book is as much about Levi's journey as it is about Boaz's; it will take a persistent reader to stick with it, since it's somewhat plodding. I kept waiting for tension, thinking that Boaz might be up to no good, but that never came. Instead, it is a story of family relationships, the faith we put in those relationships, and the power of love and respect. The teenagers in this story are pretty cool people, one of the qualities that may help a teen reader stay with it. Reviewer: Maggie Chase

When smart, talented Boaz chose the Marines over college, it shocked everyone, especially his younger brother, Levi, who idolized him. Now Boaz has returned from war, and life can go back to normal. But the aloof, serious man who comes home is not the same boy who left. Boaz spends all his time in his room with the radio playing static, studying maps. His parents say he just needs time, but Levi believes something is very wrong. Then Boaz announces he's going to hike the Appalachian Trail, but Levi knows he's lying. He's seen the map with addresses traced across the Northeast in Boaz's room. Levi realizes that if he's going to help, it's now or never—it's time to reach out to the brother who keeps pushing him away before he loses him forever. Reinhardt has tackled a timely, serious issue that is well deserving of attention. Without taking a side on the contentious wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Reinhardt addresses the effects of war on one American family, and a teenage boy in particular. The story itself drags a bit as Levi struggles with how to react to his brother's seeming indifference, and more background on Levi and Boaz's relationship as brothers would have made the story more compelling. However, the issue of posttraumatic stress disorder in soldiers is an especially relevant topic for young adults to contemplate as they make future plans, and this novel will likely influence their perspectives on the realities of war. Reviewer: Cheryl Clark

Gr 7 Up—Dana Reinhart's emotional journey (Random/Wendy Lamb Books. 2010) about a soldier's homecoming and the guilt and trauma that accompanies him is told from his brother Levi's point of view. Levi knows that his older brother Boaz joined the military a man and has come back a ghost. Boaz was a star high school student and gave up everything to fight in "some desert country half a world away." Levi just wants life to return to the way it was prior to the war. Levi searches to discover why his brother has changed. When Boaz announces that he is leaving to hike the Appalachian Trail, Levi sets out to follow him to discover what he's been through and bring him home again. Narrator Joshua Swanson brings many strong characters to life with perfect intonations and accents, from Levi and Boaz to Abba, their father who grew up speaking Hebrew, to their grandfather, Dove, who grew up in Israel and joined the army at 18. Levi's best friends Pearl, who is a giddy flirt, and Zim, a slacker, add a bit of levity. Readers will be left with memorable characters engrained in their minds long after they're through listening and will gain insight into the psychological consequences of war.—Janet Weber, Tigard Public Library, OR

Levi's older brother Boaz enlisted in the Marines after graduating from high school rather than attend an elite university as expected. Levi has felt the distance grow between them prior to and throughout his enlistment. Now, Boaz—renamed Bo—is returning home from the Middle East. The person who arrives bears little resemblance to his previous self, holing up in his room and barely communicating. When Bo announces his intention of hiking the Appalachian Trail, Levi (who has snooped in Bo's Internet history) knows better. With a little help from best friends Pearl and Zim, he joins Bo on his personal hegira. The first-person, present-tense narration takes readers steadily toward the core of what has happened to Bo. Levi's reflections and observations are crisply apt and express essentials succinctly. The emotional journey is leavened with humor and a little romance, but it moves toward the conclusion with an inevitability that grabs and doesn't let go. Every character contributes and brings a point of view that adds to a fuller picture of the personal consequences of war without being simplistically pro or anti. Powerful. (Fiction. 12 & up)