![]() ![]() They careen from a party at the home of Mike’s crush to a chance meeting with a young dump dweller to a too-close encounter with a pig truck on the autobahn. Mike, a “rich scaredy-cat,” and his smart, “low-class” Russian friend share the bottom rung on their school’s social ladder and an affinity for philosophical reflection, which bonds them on an erratic road trip. Lonely and caustic, Mike Klingenberg seems like the Berliner descendant of Holden Caulfield, but this 14-year-old’s tale veers from that angsty course with a classmate named Tschick at the wheel of a hot-wired car. ![]() With its car window on the German landscape and teen culture, the late Wolfgang Herrndorf’s novel (nimbly translated by Tim Mohr) fuels an especially expansive reading experience. Even in today’s connected world, relatively little young-adult fiction from other countries is published in the United States. ![]() You’re in for a bumpy, exhilarating ride with this winner of the German Youth Literature Award. ![]()
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