Safekeeping: A Novel of Tomorrow

by Karen Hesse

Overview

Radley's parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the American People's Party took power. And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups, frenzied looting, and police raids. It seems as if all hell has broken loose.

Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley's plane lands in New Hampshire, she's been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents—who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands—aren't there.

Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn't have the proper travel papers to cross state lines. Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . . .

Illustrated with 50 of her own haunting and beautiful photographs, this is a vision of a future America that only Karen Hesse could write: real, gripping, and deeply personal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250068170
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	01/05/2016
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	714,048
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

KAREN HESSE is the winner of the MacArthur Genius Award, and the acclaimed author of more than twenty books for children, including Brooklyn Bridge and Out of the Dust, a Newbery Medal Winner. She has received numerous honors for her writing. She lives in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Reading Group Guide

The assassination of the president of the United States sets chaos in motion as the new government takes power; vigilante groups are running the streets, the economy is failing, food is scarce, travel is difficult, and no one is safe. Radley has no idea how dismal life in the United Stated is when she returns from Haiti, but she soon finds out. Radley's parents do not meet her plane, her cell phone is dead, her credit cards don't work, she has no cash and no travel papers—nothing to do but walk home, a journey that will take her weeks. And so she begins…but what she discovers when she arrives home is worse than any nightmare. Soon she flees to Canada, on foot, hiding from everyone until she meets Celia. Together these two girls become true friends, bonding and supporting each other on their arduous trek of unexpected obstacles and challenges.

Family Relationships
When Radley returns home and her parents aren't there, why does she assume they are in jail? What does Radley miss most about her parents? What regrets does Radley have concerning her actions toward her parents? What is the difference between Radley's and Celia's ideas of family? How have their families molded their beliefs about family? Why does Radley consider the orphans in Haiti her family? How does Celia's "new" family help her overcome the pain of her past?
Friendship
What is friendship? What role does it play in the lives of each of the characters? When Radley returns home, the one person she seeks out is her friend, Janine, but she doesn't consider contacting Julian. How does Julian prove his friendship to Radley? How do Radley and Celia become friends? What helps them bond? How could Jerry Lee be considered a friend?
Kindness
How does Our Lady of the Barn help Radley and Celia? What kindnesses are shown to Radley as she travels to and from her home in Vermont? How do Radley and Celia repay the kindness that is shown to them? What role does Julian play in Radley and Celia's adventure?
Overcoming Challenges
How does the title of the book relate to the theme of overcoming challenges? What are the challenges that Radley and Celia overcome? What challenges does the society in general face? What challenges does Celia's pregnancy add to the story?
Trust
Why is Celia so unwilling to trust Radley when they first meet? When Radley discovers a boy asleep in her bedroom, she instinctively knows she can trust him. What is it about Julian that she trusts? Why does Radley begin to trust and depend on Our Lady of the Barn? What steps will the government need to take in order to regain the people's trust and confidence in their decisions and leadership?
Grief and LossHow does Celia cope with the loss of her innocence? What emotions does Radley experience as she grieves the loss of her parents? Radley's way of life changes as a result of the government downfall. What steps does she take to ensure her future will be positive and full of love? How does Julian also suffer loss and grief?

Editorial Reviews

The realistic treatment of the experiences of ordinary people in suddenly harsh circumstances makes for an absorbing character study, and the tale is suffused with an understated sadness and a vivid sense of place.” —BCCB

“Hesse offers some of her best in lavish descriptions of nature and mood…” —Kirkus

“Hesse (Brooklyn Bridge) beautifully captures the changing landscape of a journey…” —Publishers Weekly

“A masterfully written powerhouse of a book.” —School Library Journal, starred

“Mature high school students will especially appreciate this book, perhaps as they embark on the next step in their journey of life.” —VOYA

From the Publisher

Hesse (Brooklyn Bridge) beautifully captures the changing landscape of a journey, the wonder of discovery, and a fight to survive in a near-future novel set in the aftermath of a presidential assassination. A group of rebels called the American People’s Party has taken control, and prisons are overcrowded with those they’ve arrested. Radley, an American teenager returning home from doing volunteer work in Haiti, finds her parents gone and her Vermont home abandoned. Not knowing whom to trust or where she’ll be safe, she sets out on foot to Canada, befriending a reticent girl along the way. The two form a tentative friendship and manage to cross into Canada, where they begin a new, primitive life, relying on their wits and small acts of kindness from strangers. The first-person narrative (reflected a shade too obtrusively in Hesse’s 50 b&w photographs) intimately depicts Radley’s loneliness, her longing to regain what she’s taken for granted, and her delight in rediscovering simple pleasures, like eating a hot meal. Hesse’s story is a reminder of how compassion emerges during even the worst of times. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 7 Up—Radley Parker-Hughes has been volunteering in an orphanage in Haiti after the recent earthquake, but she returns home to a country in the grip of an even more chaotic situation. The American Political Party has assumed power, the president has been assassinated, and martial law prevails. Soldiers with guns at the airport, travel paper requirements-is this really the New Hampshire she left just a few months ago? And where are her parents, who are usually so prompt picking her up at the airport? Radley decides to get home any way she can, even though she will have to cross states lines, strictly forbidden by the new government. When she arrives, her parents are nowhere to be found, but the police are. She decides to leave, hiding in the woods at night, making her way to Canada, assuming that's where her parents went. One day she encounters an obviously ill young woman who is also trying to escape. The two form an uneasy alliance and, along with Celia's dog, Jerry Lee, they slip across the border. An abandoned shack becomes home, and through the kindness of strangers, they survive and become close. Once the chaos in the U.S. subsides, Radley makes her way back home, only to find that things will never be the same. A journey back to Canada can't soothe her pain, but a return to Haiti does. And so her story comes full circle. The prose is exquisite, almost poetic. The simple beauty of the narrative and lovely black-and-white photographs actually intensify the sense of confusion and disorder, giving readers a chilling feeling of reality. They see, through the use of flashbacks interspersed in the story line, how Radley grows from a confused, scared teen into a confident young woman, able to handle her own life. A masterfully written powerhouse of a book.—Diana Pierce, Leander High School, TX

School Library Journal

By turns tender and terrified, Jenna Lamia's voice brings tight focus to this first-person account of 17-year-old Radley's efforts to find her way home after political upheaval rocks the U.S. Hesse, a Newbery Medal winner, once again spotlights the poetry inherent in everyday people and ordinary things. Lamia holds on to listeners' sympathy for the dumpster-diving heroine who is so fearful that she never musters the courage to ask what’s going on as she focuses on day-to-day survival. As Radley picks up companions on her eventual trek to Canada, including a girl and her dog, a helpful Quebec farm woman, a couple of comic chickens, and an African exchange student, Lamia renders each with care. The print version of this book comes with 50 photographs taken by Hesse to accompany the text. Radley's descriptions of them come to such vivid life in the narration that the printed photos are never missed in audio. M.M.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2012 - AudioFile

By turns tender and terrified, Jenna Lamia's voice brings tight focus to this first-person account of 17-year-old Radley's efforts to find her way home after political upheaval rocks the U.S. Hesse, a Newbery Medal winner, once again spotlights the poetry inherent in everyday people and ordinary things. Lamia holds on to listeners' sympathy for the dumpster-diving heroine who is so fearful that she never musters the courage to ask what’s going on as she focuses on day-to-day survival. As Radley picks up companions on her eventual trek to Canada, including a girl and her dog, a helpful Quebec farm woman, a couple of comic chickens, and an African exchange student, Lamia renders each with care. The print version of this book comes with 50 photographs taken by Hesse to accompany the text. Radley's descriptions of them come to such vivid life in the narration that the printed photos are never missed in audio. M.M.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2012 - AudioFile

Billed as "a novel of tomorrow," this account of a privileged teenager who returns from a goodwill trip in Haiti to a changed America disappoints. In the aftermath of a presidential assassination, the American People's Party has taken over the government, enforcing strict new security measures. Without food or cash and unable to reach her parents, Radley finally arrives in Brattleboro, Vt., to find her home empty. Holding out hope that she'll rejoin her parents, Radley heads off to Quebec on foot. She meets a taciturn girl named Celia, and the two cross the border together. They settle into an abandoned schoolhouse, relying on a benefactor Radley dubs "Our Lady of the Barn." The sinister political backdrop gets short shrift, as the storyline plays out like a tone poem, with the bulk of the novel built around the author's photographs of the countryside. Implausibilities interrupt the placid pacing of the prose: Radley's methodical search of the house before getting food from the pantry, despite days of starvation; her utter reluctance to communicate with others out of paranoia that she'll be arrested; restaurant Dumpsters full of food though no one seems to be about. Hesse offers some of her best in lavish descriptions of nature and mood, all overlaid with a social message, but this might be of more interest to adults than to teens. (Speculative fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews