Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

The central characters are two boys who have just finished high school and decided to ride their bikes from West Virginia to Seattle, Washington, during the summer before they go to college. Chris is the primary narrator, and the story begins with him returning home without his riding partner, Win. Somehow, during the ride west, Win has disappeared. The story is told in flashbacks, with each chapter shifting from the present (where Chris is in college) to the past (during the bike ride). The book is a mystery, but not really one of those scary, whodunit ones. It explores the relationship between the two guys (and I admit, during parts of it I could tell that girls would handle things a lot differently) and how they break from each other and from their parents as they begin their life after high school. The book contains almost no foul language, which I found quite refreshing. Sometimes, some authors think the only way to "sound" like an authentic teenager is to throw in a lot of offensive language in the dialogue. I'm glad Bradbury presented these two guys without a bunch of expletives--it's a lot easier to focus on the story. This book was on the list of Teen Reads supplied by the Media Specialist at my school, and was a welcome read on my part. It may be a "boy" book, but I enjoyed it.