As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth [Hardcover]

Lynne Rae Perkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2010

Train.

Car.

Plane.

Boat.

Feet.

He'll get there.

Won't he?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up This is a story of one misfortune after another. As the book opens, Ry, a 16-year-old Wisconsin resident en route to camp, is left behind in Middle-of-Nowhere, MT, as his stalled train pulls out and he recounts the events that led him to leave the train in the first place. Bad goes to worse: he loses a shoe and his phone charger, his grandfather back home is injured, and his parents are having their own misadventures in the Caribbean. A superhero of a fix-it guy named Del helps Ry to put his life back together. Along the way, readers learn that there is more to Del than initially meets the eye. The story is told in a traditional, episodic style, bouncing from one calamity to the next. The narration occasionally switches perspective to include the grandfather's tale of woe as well as well-drawn graphic-style portrayals of the family dogs' mishaps. The style is reminiscent of Chris Crutcher's, and the action is evocative of Gary Paulsen, but the freewheeling prose, quirky humor, and subtle life lessons are all Perkins's own. This novel is not going to be every teen boy's cup of tea, but its charms are undeniable. Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Ry opens a letter en route to a summer program informing him that camp has been canceled because “a statistically improbable number of things have gone wrong.“ He hops off the train in Montana to figure out what to do, and his own series of improbable misfortunes begins—the train moves on without him (but with all his stuff), leaving him alone with a dying cell phone in the precise middle of nowhere. Oh, and one of his shoes just floated off down a river. He befriends a man named Del, who figures there's nothing he can't fix (when it comes to other people's problems, anyway). They set off on a cross-country road trip to get Ry back home and then, due to any number of minor and major catastrophes, to an island in the Caribbean. Ever-placid Del and milquetoast Ry make for affable traveling companions, but the real pleasure is Perkins' relentlessly entertaining writing. She dabbles just on the clever side of intruding on the narrative, and she infuses her prose with more personality than many could squeeze out of an entire cast. The knock against her Newbery-winning Criss Cross (2006) was a lack of plot, and although a lot of things happen here, it would be a stretch to call this leisurely novel plot-driven. The point is that it doesn't matter, and wallowing in the wry humor, small but potent truths, and cheerful implausibility is an absolute delight. Grades 8-11. --Ian Chipman

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books; 1 edition (April 27, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061870900
• ISBN-13: 978-0061870903
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun read, but it also could be looked at as a cautionary tale, June 28, 2010

By 

Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth (Hardcover)

PART ONE:

Ry only intended to be off the train for a moment. He had a quick phone call to make to his grandfather, and then it was back on the train. The call went to the answering machine and the train took off --- without Ry. Now, lost somewhere in Montana, Ry is in trouble. His parents are off on a Caribbean sailing adventure, his grandfather has fallen in a hole and suffered a concussion, and Ry has no place to turn except an old driveway he happens upon. In that driveway is someone who turns out to be his salvation --- Del.

PART TWO:

Del is a jack-of-all-trades who agrees to help Ry get back to his home in Wisconsin. Ry and Del pile into his old Jeep station wagon, and it's an instant road trip. Ry has no idea what has happened to his grandfather --- and neither does his grandfather, who has suffered amnesia --- and can only imagine what is happening with his parents. Del and Ry suffer minor setbacks on their road trip, namely hitchhiking with a lunatic, but eventually make it to Wisconsin and stumble upon Ry's worst nightmare. The answering machine reveals that Ry's parents are stuck in St. Jude as they await replacement passports, and his grandfather has no idea where he is and may be potentially hurt. Del declares that he and Ry will head to the Caribbean to find his parents, and that's that.

PART THREE:

If you've ever been on a long road trip, you know that you eventually end up learning a lot about the people you travel with. Ry learns that Del has a soft spot for a mysterious Yulia, who happens to be on the way, and he has friends in all places. Friends with airplanes that can cross a small part of the ocean and land on some islands off the Florida coast. After a harrowing plane ride, Del and Ry eventually hook up with Yulia, who offers them refuge and a boat. Without ever really second-guessing himself, Ry agrees to travel with Del to find his parents on St. Jude Island.

PART FOUR:

After traveling on a train, car, plane and boat, Ry is finally ready to find his parents and rejoin civilization. It's never that easy, though. Ry mistakenly steers the boat off course, and Del gets seriously injured in a windmill mishap. He is once again all alone, his parents are oblivious to what is happening, and his grandfather still can't remember anything. Who knew it was this easy to fall off the face of the earth?

In a technological age where more people are connected than ever before, you might find it impossible for Ry's scenario to actually happen. Lynne Rae Perkins, though, makes every situation seem real. People forget cell phones all the time, Facebook is a way to maintain relationships without talking, and many of us don't take the time to have real communication with others. AS EASY AS FALLING OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH is a fun read, but it also could be looked at as a cautionary tale. Perkins reminds us to find that common bond with one another, and then it won't seem as though we are all alone.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not As Easy To Believe Though, September 4, 2010

By 

Lady Wimsey (Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth (Hardcover)

Since it is a road trip book about a teenage boy I was thinking it would have some Kerouac inspiration/feel to it. To the author's credit, she does know how to create characters that are warm, interesting, and provide depth to make them seem realistic. I wish the same could be said of her plot.
The story as one reviewer described it seems like a Rube Goldberg machine and unfortunately it is just as unbelievable and odd as one of those machines. The chain of events one after another seem so unrealistic I never could get to the point of suspending disbelief.
In brief without spoiling the plot, the main character, Ry, is taking a train to summer camp when the train stops in the middle of nowhere because of a malfunction. He steps off the train and then further away, in order to get better cell phone reception. Then the train leaves without him. His parents are taking a second honeymoon after a stressful move leaving the grandfather at the new house to take care of the dogs (the dogs are important believe it or not). Each character experiences unlikely mishaps that somehow make it impossible for the main character to let his family know he is lost. (Yes Ry has a cell phone for which he can't seem to find a charger, but even with low battery and the text feature enabled he can't seem to contact the friends who text him and get them to help him.) Other people really found this book charming and wonderful. I just couldn't get there.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So much fun, October 5, 2010

By 

octobercountry (the Land of Trees and Heroes) - See all my reviews

This review is from: As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth (Hardcover)

Wow, talk about an adventure---just about everything that can possibly go wrong, does, in this rather unlikely story---with extremely amusing results. But you'll find yourself rooting for the main characters, especially Ry, who reacts to every trouble with outward calm, even if he's panicking inside.

The story is enlivened by the occasional illustration in comic book style. There is one tiny sub-plot, seen from the point of view of a pair of dogs, that is told only through drawings, and it's pretty funny.

I won't over-analyse the story here; other Amazon reviewers have talked about the novel with greater skill than I possess. I'll just say I LOVED THIS BOOK; recommended.

The dust jacket illustration is fantastic; appealing and dynamic and the little drawn-in plane and boat made me smile. Best cover design I've seen for ages.