The Unusual Suspects

Gr 8 Up—What do a 14-year-old Bulgarian American girl, an 89-year-old World War II veteran, and a now-dead creepy attacker have in common? They are all aboard the same train and are linked in a madcap adventure. When Nia decides to ditch school to travel by train to Berlin, Germany, from her home in Sofia, Bulgaria, she has no idea that her mission to seek revenge on her ex-boyfriend and reverse The Epic Devastation would result in hijinks with her new friend Kurt, an elderly American with a mission of his own. After Kurt and Nia bond over an event best left unmentioned, Nia convinces Kurt to accompany her to Berlin to complete her mission. While dodging police and border agents, Kurt and Nia teach each other that although they are very different, they can learn from one another and form a bond that neither expected. Told from the alternating perspectives of Nia and Kurt, this fun, fast-paced novel will appeal to fans of contemporary coming-of-age stories about finding family in the most unexpected of places.