1. BY ELENA MCBRIDE

2. Characters  Theo- A 12 year-old boy whose father was supposed to come back from war 5 years ago but never did, and this bothers him very much.  Janet- Theo’s 14 year-old sister who is really talkative, bossy and mean. She is not as interested about her father as Theo. She is really mean to her brother. For his birthday she gave him pimple cream and rubbed it on his nose.  Mom (Rosemary)- A teacher who gets tired a lot because she has to teach kids everyday and raise two kids on her own. She gets stressed out a lot and has a lot of secrets she hasn’t told anyone yet. One secret is that every night after dinner she goes to her room and says she doesn’t want to be bothered and is going to bed. Instead, she eats candy and watches T.V.  Dad (Vince)- His location is unknown. There are a lot of secrets about him. JeeBee says he wants to come home but he can’t. Everyone says he's MIA (missing in action) but Theo starts to uncover things and thinks he's a prisoner of war (POW).  Kenny- Theo’s best friend who has a huge yard, a dad, a dog and everything Theo ever wanted! They do everything together. They act like brothers.  Mr. Myers- Theo and Kenny’s Science teacher who tries to give Theo the most advice he can.  JeeBee- Vince’s(Dad) mom and Theo and Janet’s Grandma but they call her JeeBee. She wants to tell Theo all about his dad and what he liked to do. For one thing when he was only 14 he could fix a whole car with no help! JeeBee is a lot of help around the house and is very nice.

3. SettingsSettings TTheo’s house Theo lives in a house with his mother and his sister Janet. In his house there are two rules: 1) Never talk about dad and 2) Never touch his mom’s dolls. SSchool In school, Theo’s favorite subject is Science with his favorite teacher Mr. Meyers. Here, Theo gets an assignment to create a Golden Record which is inspired by the launch of Voyager II. KKenny’s house This is where Theo spends much of his time, especially during the weekends. WWashington D.C JeeBee goes here every Saturday. When Theo and Janet follow her here, they uncover many secrets.

4. The Main Problems  Theo wants to know more about his father. Why hasn’t he returned from Vietnam? Did he die during the war? Is he a POW? Is he alive but MIA? How can he get the answers to his questions and who can help him find out more about his dad?  Theo finds letters from his father to his mother after snooping around his mother’s room. These letters make him question his father’s location even more.  Theo is stumped by the Voyager project. While he starts with a plan to use colors and photograph the art fair, he switches his plan when the art fair gets washed away.

5. Major Event One Saturday, Janet begs Theo to come to Washington D.C with her to track down JeeBee. JeeBee says she goes to get her hair done, but Janet is suspicious. Theo has a couple days to finish his project and declines at first, but Janet makes him a deal. If Theo comes with her they will go to the science museum as well, so Theo agrees to join her. Once they get to D.C, they follow JeeBee into a restaurant. She then goes to a youth center and plays with kids as a youth center volunteer. After they see her they leave and they begin to head to the science museum. When they start walking to the science museum, Theo sees a photo of a hippie teaching kids how to fix cars in a picture. Theo starts to stare at it and then moves on. After only about ten minutes at the Science Museum, Janet is ready to leave. Theo decides he will come back the next day. The next day is Sunday, and the doors are locked. Theo decides to sneak in the back. He doesn’t see anyone, realizes the museum is closed and begins to cry. At that moment he sees the hippie from the photo, this time in real life! He looks at him really hard and then recognizes him. He says “dad”? The hippie replies, “Theo”? He bursts into tears, saying all this time he’s been here and forgot about them. He runs to the bus when his dad calls out, “Wait Theo!” When Theo gets home he says, “I FOUND DAD!!!!!! “ And is so mad he runs up to his room.

6. Solutions IIn order to learn more about his father, Theo had begun to snoop around his mother’s room. When he found letters, he became more curious. He reads the letters from his father every night, and finds out more about his dad letter by letter. One letter is addressed to him and Janet. He thinks he doesn’t remember reading letters from dad. When his mom finds out about Theo reading letters in his room she is angry but also feels guilty about not telling about the letters. WWhen he and Janet travelled to DC to follow JeeBee, he finds his father, but does not understand why he was not home but instead living in the streets as a hippie. Theo learns that his father was working out some problems he developed from the war and is working in a community service program in the city. TTheo receives a note from his father requesting a picnic meeting and to learn more about his situation. Theo decides to go. He invites Janet to go with him. Once they meet up with their father, Janet says she’s not ready to see him. Theo runs out to his dad and they start to talk about their interests and new things to get to know each other better. TTheo’s best memory of his father helps him choose what to do for the Voyager project. He decides to do the man on the moon. When Theo was 5, his father woke him up to watch the first steps man took on the moon.

7. Rating  WWWW wikitastic  I highly recommend this book!