?Twelve-year-old Jolene spends every day she can at the library watching her favorite livestream: The Desert Aviator, where twelve-year-old "Addie Earhart" shares her adventures flying an ultralight plane over the desert. While watching this daring girl fly through the sky, Jolene can dream of what it would be like to fly with her, far away from her own troubled home life where her mother struggles with a narcotic addiction. And Addie, who is grieving the loss of her father, finds solace in her online conversations with Jolene, her biggest-and only-fan.Then, one day, it all goes wrong: Addie's engine abruptly stops, and Jolene watches in helpless horror as the ultralight plummets to the ground and the video goes dark. Jolene knows that Addie won't survive long in the extreme summer desert heat. With no one to turn to for help and armed with only a hand-drawn map and a stolen cell phone, it's up to Jolene to find a way to save the Desert Aviator. Packed with adventure and heart, Across the Desert speaks to the resilience, hope, and strength within each of us.Don't miss Dusti Bowling's new novel, Dust, available for preorder now.

 

 

This book has been graded for interest at 8-12 years.

There are 336 pages in this book. This book was published in 2023 by Little, Brown & Company .

Dusti Bowling holds a Bachelor of Psychology and a Master of Education, but she soon realised that her true passion was writing. The Day We Met, her self-published novel for young adults, has sold over 20, 000 copies.