Avenging the Owl

Solo Hahn has a perfect life in Southern California. A nice house near the beach, terrific friends, and plenty of time to surf but his father falls into depression and tries to commit suicide. Solo’s parents decide to move to Oregon for a fresh start. The only good thing is a little stray kitten Solo finds. The family moves to a trailer house in the middle of nowhere, and Solo and his kitten begin their new life. What keeps him going is his plan to run away. When an owl snatches Solo’s kitten, he loses it. He grabs a gun and goes after the owl, but injures a friend instead. He is assigned to community service working with raptors at a rescue center. Solo is angry and afraid. It’s a lot for a kid to deal with and it makes for a rich, complex novel.

The cast of characters is filled with diverse, fully-rounded people who readers can relate to and care about. Melissa Hart’s writing is crisp and polished and her story is very compelling. The story will engage the middle-grade set, but really deserves readers beyond that group as it is so well written and full of universal themes.