Riding Invisible: An Adventure Journal (review)

Fifteen-year-old Yancy Aparicio has finally had enough of his troubled older brother when Will cuts off Yancy's horse's tail and slashes its side with scissors. After running away on horseback into the hills of southern California, Yancy details his experiences in his journal, interspersed with poetry, comics, and sketches. He also rehashes past violent encounters with his brother, fantasizes about dream girl Christi, and laments his parents' and the system's inability to manage Will's diagnosed conduct disorder. After withstanding a mugging and a night in "Homeless City, U.S.A.," Yancy accepts an offer to pose as the nephew of ranch hand Tavo Mendoza and work at a horse farm. His respite can't last forever, though, and soon he must return to life as Will's brother. Handwriting-style font on lined pages, supplemented by artist Huang's skillfully sketchy black-and-white line drawings, gives the impression of an authentic and rough-around-the edges teen journal. Yancy's perspective and language, if a bit sophisticated for his age, are as passionately emotive (and sometimes as foul-mouthed) as one would imagine a hurt teenager's to be. The core of the book is the exploration of mental illness and its crippling impact, but the deft use of humor and the animal-story appeal of the horsey element provide additional dimension. There is a slight mythic quality to Yancy's initial journey, both its symbolism and its streaks of good fortune, and while there is a happy ending of sorts, the real conclusion is Yancy's believable acceptance that his brother's situation offers no real winners. Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (BCCB 10/07) still reigns supreme in the fictional-teen-diary genre, but this is a solid addition that will find a home with readers who appreciate problem novels lightened by an accessible format and leavened with a dose of humor.