Jory Birch is just like anybody else. Not too popular but not too picked on. Loved by his family. Worshipped by Kit, the little sister he found in a pumpkin patch. Bone-tired from helping his stepdad dig a secret bunker every night to protect the family from the end of life as they know it. Oh, wait. So maybe he’s not so ordinary after all. Jory has never known anything beyond his isolated farmhouse life, but he’s starting to realize just how unusual his upbringing is. Growing up worshipping his stepfather Caleb, a military veteran, he would never dream of questioning his authority. Caleb, after all, has never steered the family wrong. If he sees Signs, Jory believes him fully. If he has secrets locked away in the barn, Jory won’t bring them to light. If he enlists the entire family to climb into the canyon each night to dig a shelter, Jory will shoulder his shovel and earn his blisters, no matter the cost. Jory's outlook on life starts to change as he works on a school project and starts to make friendships for the first time in his life (especially with know-it-all Alice Brooks-Diaz). What will happen when Jory is willing to open his eyes to the world around him? When accepting the truth would throw his entire existence into upheaval? When it might mean that Kit gets taken away from him? What if Caleb is wrong about the approach of doomsday? Scarier still…what if he’s right? Watch the Sky is an absolutely fascinating look at an unconventional family and the effects that war and PTSD can have on a person. Jory is a narrator perfectly poised between belief and reality; right and wrong; innocence and coming of age. Compelling and complicated tale for older readers who like their realistic fiction with a side of psychological intrigue and introspection.
272 pages, ISBN:978-1484708330, Ages 11-13, Recommended by Molly Crumbley, Librarian, Maryland, USA.
