Learning to Swear in America
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Brimming with humor and one-of-a-kind characters, this end-of-the-world debut novel will grab hold of Andrew Smith and Rainbow Rowell fans.
An asteroid is hurtling toward Earth. A big, bad one. Maybe not kill-all-the-dinosaurs bad, but at least kill-everyone-in-California-and-wipe-out-Japan-with-a-tsunami bad. Yuri, a physicist prodigy from Russia, has been recruited to aid NASA as they calculate a plan to avoid disaster.
The good news is Yuri knows how to stop the asteroid--his research in antimatter will probably win him a Nobel prize if there's ever another Nobel prize awarded. But the trouble is, even though NASA asked for his help, no one there will listen to him. He's seventeen, and they've been studying physics longer than he's been alive.
Then he meets (pretty, wild, unpredictable) Dovie, who lives like a normal teenager, oblivious to the impending doom. Being with her, on the adventures she plans when he's not at NASA, Yuri catches a glimpse of what it means to save the world and live a life worth saving.
Also by Katie Kennedy:
What Goes Up
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Kennedy's engrossing and entertaining debut, a 17-year-old Russian physicist must help NASA stop an asteroid that is hurtling toward Earth. Yuri Strelnikov arrives in the U.S. with only three weeks until BR1019 is expected to hit, but his age and his specialty (antimatter) make it hard for him to get his scientific colleagues to take him seriously. When he meets Dovie Collum, an artistic and quick-witted high-school student, and her unusual, loving family, Yuri gains a few new reasons to figure out how to avert global disaster. Yuri is delightfully droll, and Dovie awakes in him a zest for life as well as a sense of family he has never known. Dovie and her family inspire Yuri to think outside of the box, even if it means going against his colleagues in order to save the planet. The science Kennedy weaves throughout the story is fascinating and accessible, and Yuri and Dovie's gentle romance is pitch-perfect. This novel is made to savor readers will want to catch every nuance of Kennedy's multidimensional characters. Ages 13 up.
