Down Sterling Road

Eleven-year-old Jacob McKnight doesnt like running. He doesnt like the hills, the cold wind, the slushy electrolyte drinks, the interval training. He doesnt like the way his dad is always pushing him: harder, faster, whats wrong with you, boy? But mostly he doesnt like the way it gives him time to think about the accident that shattered his brothers body and his parents marriage. Jacob would rather be drawing than running. He likes the Anatomy Colouring Book his dad gave him, and he likes how it helps him to better draw superheroes, with their unbreakable bodies. He likes, too, how drawing makes him forget about how much he misses his mum, about how hard his dad works to pay for their tiny apartment and secondhand clothes, about the pitying whispers that follow them around Glanisberg. Down Sterling Road parses the anatomy of childhood with wisdom, wit and wonder; its one of the most charismatic books youll read all year.