Stonewall Book Award Honor winner Rex Ogle (Road Home) continues his fearless run of emotionally layered storytelling showcasing the complicated lives of teens in the nuanced and gripping Absent, a stirring mixed-format story of three middle school boys who can't seem to make it to school.
Manny Fueyo, Calvin Johnson Jr., and Liam Miller don't know each other. They all, however, keep journals of sorts tracking their days in--but mostly out--of Lincoln Heights Middle School. Manny, who spends his school hours at the skate park, is a lyricist who mourns his incarcerated father and expresses his anger by writing in his "BOOK O'RHYME$!!" Calvin is an artist whose comics show his efforts to get to school on time, only to be thwarted by the responsibilities laid upon him by his single dad. Liam uses a graph-ruled notebook for his meticulous accounts of being bullied and experiencing increasingly sharp panic attacks: "It's this... bad, awful, terrifying feeling." When all three are sent to detention for their absenteeism, they form a bond that helps make each day in school a little bit easier.
Ogle was inspired by his visits to schools where educators told him students missing class was their number one problem. This, combined with his own experience as a teen who had to skip school, forms the bedrock of Ogle's genuine and at times gut-wrenching novel. Illustrator LJ-Baptiste's grayscale art is expressive, entertaining, and exciting, making Calvin's comics shine bright in a book that delves into some dark places. Absent never condescends to its readership; it's an impeccably paced novel loaded with pathos, humor, and grace. --Luis Rendon