Zane's Trace [Paperback]

A coming-of-age road story with a supernatural twist — and a compulsively readable poetic novel about identity and belonging.

Zane Guesswind has just killed his grandfather, or so he believes. So he steals the 1969 Plymouth Barracuda his father left behind and takes off on a manic trip to his mother’s grave to kill himself. Armed with a six-pack of Mountain Dew, a jumbo pack of Sharpies, and a loaded gun in the trunk, he’s headed to Zanesville, Ohio, with no rearview mirror and no more worries. On the way, he meets Libba, a young hitchhiker who shares his destination, and other mystic and mysterious characters. With each encounter and every mile marker, Zane gets farther from the life he knows — but closer to figuring out who he really is."Told in dramatic free verse, Zane’s journey is part history,
part magical realism, and all heart-pounding suspense." — Booklist I-70 WEST: MILE MARKER 82
334 Miles to Zanesville

When I die
I want to come back
as a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda
midnight blue with black-tape accents,
twin dummy hood scoops,
and a 440 big-block engine
stuffed between the fenders.
An engine so big they had to install it
with a shoehorn and a hammer.

I’ve got a six-pack of Mountain Dew,
a book bag filled with Pop-Tarts, a jumbo pack
of Sharpies, a change of socks,
fifty dollars cash, a credit card in my wallet,
and a loaded gun in the trunk.
No rearview mirror. And no more worries.
It’s just over three hundred miles to Zanesville, Ohio.

A straight shot.

Gotta make good time.
The sun’s already up.
By now they’ve probably
found the old man’s body.

I-70 WEST: MILE MARKER 80
332 Miles to Zanesville

My mother used to read me this book,
HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON.
Harold was a little kid who made
anything happen just by drawing it.
He could draw a hol“2