No Passengers Beyond This Point by Gennifer Choldenko
Dial Books for Young Readers
2011
244p.
With their house in foreclosure, sisters India and Mouse and brother Finn are sent to stay with an uncle in Colorado until their mother can join them, but when the plane lands, the children are welcomed by cheering crowds to a strange place where each of them has a perfect house and a clock that is ticking down the time.
One of the oddest juvenile novels I've read, ever. Very hard to pin down whether events are actually happening or are some kind of dream state--the characters are often believable and grow emotionally over the course of the book, but the organization of the plot makes it difficult to stay with it. I think Choldenko should get high marks for inventiveness yet ultimately it feels too messy to be a contender this year.
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