Fly Back, Agnes

A heartfelt story that sensitively tackles the everyday inner turmoil of growing up and staying true to oneself.

Twelve-year-old Agnes hates everything about her life: her name, her parents' divorce, her best friend's abandonment, her changing body . . . . So while staying with her dad over the summer, she decides to become someone else. She tells people she meets that her name is Chloe, she's fourteen, her parents are married, and she's a dancer and actor--just the life she wants.

But Agnes's fibs quickly stack up and start to complicate her new friendships, especially with Fin, whose mysterious relative runs a local raptor rehab center that fascinates Agnes. The birds, given time and care, heal and fly back home. Agnes, too, wants to get back to wherever she truly belongs. But first she must come to see the good in her real life, however flawed and messy it is, and be honest with her friends, her family, and herself.

“"When 12-year-old Agnes Moon's mother, Mo, announces that they'll be spending the summer in Kansas with Mo's boyfriend and his weird kid, Agnes quietly snaps. Furious, Agnes spins a little lie that gets her out of the whole ordeal. Now she's housesitting a beautiful home (and adorable dog!) with her dad all summer. Since he's busy working on his PhD during the day, Agnes has ample time to explore, which is how she ends up in the neighboring town of Renew. There, she makes new friends and reinvents herself as Chloe, a girl with the life and family of her dreams, a liberating feeling until the lies turn on her. Atkinson stuffs a few too many issues into this book, with divorce and blended families, puberty and Agnes getting her period, an intersex friend and best-friend drama all squeezed into one summer. However, readers may well identify with one or more of Agnes' experiences. Place this with books like Karen Rivers' A Possibility of Whales (2018) and Kim Harrington's Revenge of the Red Club (2019)."--Booklist”

"A beautifully written, deft, imaginative portrayal of a girl on the cusp of becoming herself and discovering her own powers."--Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner award-winning author of The Great Man and The Last Cruise

-- (10/15/2019 12:00:00 AM)

"Issues of peer acceptance, popularity, and the repercussions of divorce are delicately explored in this sweet and tender tale. Will resonate with middle grade and early high school students, especially those at a crossroads in their lives."--School Library Journal

-- (2/1/2020 12:00:00 AM)

"Place this with books like Karen Rivers' A Possibility of Whales (2018) and Kim Harrington's Revenge of the Red Club (2019)."--Booklist

-- (2/15/2020 12:00:00 AM)

"Fly Back, Agnes is a charming novel that I read in one sitting. Elizabeth Atkinson has crafted a quirky yet tender story that also manages to explore some of the deep challenges faced by today's youth. I loved this book and am ready to pack my bags and head off to rural Vermont!"--Laurie Friedman, author of the Mallory series

-- (9/27/2019 12:00:00 AM)

"Fly Back, Agnes settles right in your heart. The storytelling holds you tight with secrets abounding all round."--Terry Farish, author of The Good Braider and Either the Beginning or the End of the World

-- (9/23/2019 12:00:00 AM)

"Agnes's story is full of revelations. The truth is delicate and durable--and different than it appears."--Blythe Woolston, author of MARTians

-- (10/15/2019 12:00:00 AM)

"Elizabeth Atkinson has written a tenderhearted coming-of-age novel that gives you all the feels--each character as intriguing and multilayered as the next."--Danielle Joseph, author of Shrinking Violet, Indigo Blues, and Pure Red

-- (9/23/2019 12:00:00 AM)

Elizabeth Atkinson has been an editor, a children's librarian, an English teacher, and a newspaper columnist. She lives in Newburyport, MA. Visit her at

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