Summer Reading: On the Road to Find Out

Spoiler free notes on my cell phone taken as I read.

I am a high school English teacher who coaches for fun, rather than a coach who pays the bills by teaching. There is a difference. What this often means for me is that while I greatly enjoy working with students to improve athletic performance, and the lessons that come with that journey, I am always looking for ways to have my academic goals find a way into our sport. I benefit greatly from being in the classroom working with many of my athletes throughout their high school experiences, an opportunity that provides some insight into their inner lives beyond the game or sport.

As a result, in my role as a varsity Girls Cross-Country/Track and Field coach I have slowly made reading an expectation among my team. The form this takes is articles, chapters, and the occasional poem assigned at one practice and some sort of "product", short responses to reader reflection prompts or participation in a quick group conversation, due at the next. Finding text that is engaging and relevant to the physical and psychological development of the female athlete has been a challenge that has motivated prompted much of my own "reading for enjoyment." As our recent COVID-19 spring slowly became summer, and the significantly abbreviated Outdoor Track and Field season (two practices) gave way to the promise of a fall Cross-Country one, I once again set my sights on finding good text to potentially share with my team.

I discovered Rachel Toor's Young Adult novel, On the Road to Find Out, through a strange confluence of search terms on Goodreads. While a few other titles came up, this novel struck me for two reasons, first, it was written by a woman, and secondly, it presented the experience of a young person who began the story not as a "runner", but rather as an individual looking to process some recent bad news. More importantly, the anxiety and depression said news created for an other wise exceptional, and therefore confident, student. At the top of this post are the notes I took as I read. A few of the reasons I enjoyed this novel, and see it as a worthy potential team read for my girls teams, are:

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  Click to embiggen for a
  brief synopsis of the book.
  

  Engaging story. The narrative is a recognizable Young Adult literature one, with relatable characters. The book draws in the reader with some clearly universal themes (power of friendship, accepting challenges as opportunities to grow, failure is survivable).
• Interesting stylistic flourishes. Toor does two things that make the book both engaging and instructive beyond the story. The first choice the author makes is to use listing as means of reflecting main character's internal dialogue. For example, when the protagonist Alice is reflecting on her many college visits, she lists ways in which the "colleges are exactly alike" (53). Toor also creatively introduces high level Tier 2 vocabulary by including SAT level terms Alice has encountered in prep course and her "honors chem" (6). Throughout the early part of the novel (it is structured in three parts), Alice, from whose perspective the story is told, mentions the use of words, as well as their definitions, that she has covered in preparing for the college entrance exam. Interestingly, the further Alice gets from having her college dream as the primary motivating force, the less frequently does she reference her elevated vocabulary.
• Approach to athletics. Toor uses Alice's entree into the world of recreational running as a means of personal growth rather than as a way for the protagonist to achieve some sort of status in the context of high school. Running is that unique athletic endeavor (unlike basketball and football) that can be a life-long lifestyle. One need to not participate (and love) running as a competitive outlet. I loved that message.
• The college selection/admittance process. From Alice's personal statement to her difficulty accepting, for the first time, failure, the depiction of a teen's transition from high school senior to... whatever comes next, is well done. I found myself shaking my head in agreement with the feedback shared with Alice. Ultimately, Alice has to make some decisions, and she comes to these conclusions independently (albeit with some help from her support system). 

On the Road to Find Out by Rachel Toor offers so much worth discussing with young people who are faced with difficult decisions and rejection. In the writing of my students, and student-athletes, I read so much of their fear of disappointing families, a pressure that creates great stress for them. Toor's novel offers some suggestions in a package that is easy reading and entertaining as it is insightful. In the best of all possible world's, I would buy a copy of this for each of the girl's on my cross-country team, many of whom will be juniors this year, as a basis for conversation throughout the season. With any luck, there will be a safe, healthy environment in which to hold school and athletics this fall, and this book will be a small part of it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.