Twelve-year-old Ethan Truitt is traumatized, but at first readers don't know why. Whatever happened was so bad that the Truitts packed up and moved from Boston to Ethan's mother's "drooping and faded and flat" hometown of Palm Knot, Ga., so the blue-eyed, dark-curled, messed-up Ethan could "pretend to be a normal kid," as bluntly stated by his ever-exasperated teenaged brother, Roddie.
This "fresh start" is hard on everyone, including the once-happily-solitary Grandpa Ike, who suddenly has a tense family walking on eggshells in his own home. Ethan's mom clearly has issues with her father, Roddie is frustrated that there's no baseball team, and everyone's trying not to mention death or any other unpleasantness around Ethan. Fortunately, Ethan finds a real friend in another soul seeking a clean slate: Coralee Jessup, a "scrawny" and seemingly fearless black girl with lots of tiny braids and just as many big stories. As Ethan shares his dark secret with Coralee, the two friends stumble into new ones. A creepy old house, a mysterious woman and some suspicious jewels they find have them watching their backs and scrambling for answers. Soon Ethan is left wondering if there's anyone he can trust.
In The Ethan I Was Before, small-town coastal Georgia leaps to life with debut author Ali Standish's vivid descriptions of sticky hot afternoons, bays at sunset, saltwater taffy and hurricanes. Even in pain, Ethan is a sweet, affable protagonist and readers will join his friends and family in cheering him on as he staggers through grief and guilt all the way to hope. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness