I was eager to read The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith because my students and I have so enjoyed The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. This love story, travel story, coming of age story did not disappoint!

A summary from Smith’s website:

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they’re rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

Lucy and Owen’s relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and — finally — a reunion in the city where they first met.

A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith’s new novel shows that the center of the world isn’t necessarily a place. It can be a person, too.

(http://www.jenniferesmith.com/the-geography-of-you-and-me/)

How will I sell this book?

· So many of my girls just love a good love story. Among them, who wouldn’t want to be stranded in New York City on the roof of an apartment building during a blackout with a stranger who just seems to get you? Magical. And I can be as cynical as the next adult, but I, too, was caught up in the magic of Lucy and Owen. True love sells.

· But…the cynical adult LOVES that each of these young people travel -0ne across the country and the other across the globe – forging new relationships with their parents along the away. They stay in love through old fashioned post cards, and some new fangled emails, but the relationship develops across time and distance.

· I teach in a small town with many rural students, and through this book, the readers visit London, Scotland, San Francisco, and New York City. What a great way to see the world for kids who don’t have the opportunities to do so in person.

· Lucy and Owen have both experienced loss. Lucy’s brothers have moved away to school. Owen’s mother has died. I have kids who will relate personally to these losses and will be drawn to the book in this way. I love how the characters come to terms with these losses and a healthy, and not trite, realistic way.

What will I pair it with?

· Smith’s other titles: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight which shares many of the features of the current title, and This is What Happy Looks Like which is still on my summer reading list.

· Books that feature travel like Maureen Johnson’s Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes and Gayle Forman’s Just One Day. Forman will be hot this fall due to the movie release of If I Stay, so it would be silly not to capitalize on that excitement!

I look forward to “talking” this book!