The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart

 

Last night, I finished reading The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart. This beautiful and adventurous realistic fiction novel is about a girl, Coyote, who has been traveling around the United States on a school bus with her father for the past five years after the tragic car accident that took the lives of Coyote's mother and two sisters. When she calls her grandma while in Florida, she learns that the park in Poplin Springs, Washington where she buried a memory box with her mom and sister is going to be demolished in four days. Although Coyote and her dad haven't been back there since the accident, Coyote comes up with a plan to travel all the way across the country back to the park for the box without her dad realizing it. On the way, they meet other misfit travelers and invite them to come along with them. 

After a bit of a slow start, I thought this book was amazing. The language that Gemeinhart used is beautiful and the story moved me. I definitely got a little teary-eyed at the more emotional moments. There were times that the story was heartbreaking, but there were also funny moments that caused me to laugh out loud. The novel was an emotional roller coaster ride. I thought the story was very tense, too, because I had no idea if Coyote would make it back to the park on time. One of my favorite moments was when Coyote and some of the other travelers planned a concert for her new friend, Salvador, to play violin because he and his mom had to leave their home just before he was going to play a solo in his youth orchestra's big concert. All of the travelers were unique and I came to love them all. Because I'm a cat person, I especially adored the cat that Coyote adopted at the very beginning of the story, Ivan. Coyote had this deep loneliness because she and her dad never stayed anywhere long enough for her to make friends, but Ivan is the catalyst for Coyote to seek out what makes her happy. The major themes of The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise are home, family, and friends, and it's a book I think that anyone would enjoy.