Cruise Control

Paul McDaniel has everything going for him: looks, smarts, and athletic ability. His brother, on the other hand, has nothing, not even a working brain. How can Paul pursue his own happiness when his brother will never know anything but meaningless pain?

How sick is this: I'm the major jock-stud in high school, but my brother has the brain of a badminton birdie and a body to match. I've got everything and he's got nothing. I'm a three-year, three-sport letterman and Shawn can't even stand up Like I said, sick, huh?

It's hard to be a brother to someone who doesn't even know you're there. How can you talk to him when he can't understand a thing you say? How can you listen to him when he can't speak a word? How can you love him when he's so messed up, he can't love you back? And how can you have a life of your own when your father bailed on the family, leaving you to be the "man of the house"?

Fueled by rage at what has happened to his family, Paul is ready to explode. And he is haunted by something even worse -- something he can never tell anyone. It is something he will have to face if he is to have any hope of a future at all. While "Cruise Control" is a companion to Terry Trueman's Printz Honor book, "Stuck in Neutral," it is the completely independent story of a family's "other" son -- the one who is healthy, gifted, normal. It is a courageously hopeful story told with power, compassion, and humor.