This review is part of Melody’s Summer Reading: Diversity Spotlight. Enjoy!

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
Release Date: October 23, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary, LGBT
ISBN: 978-0316194686
Source: Bought
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Astrid Jones copes with her small town’s gossip and narrow-mindedness by sending her love to the passengers in the airplanes flying overhead. Maybe they’ll know what to do with it. Maybe it’ll make them happy. Maybe they’ll need it.

Her mother doesn’t want it, her father’s always stoned, her perfect sister’s too busy trying to fit in, and the people in her small town would never allow her to love the person she really wants to–another girl named Dee. There’s no one Astrid feels she can talk to about this deep secret or the profound questions that she’s trying to answer. But little does she know just how much sending her love–and asking the right questions–will affect the passengers’ lives, and her own, for the better.

In this unmistakably original portrayal of a girl struggling to break free of society’s boxes and definitions, Printz Honor author A.S. King asks readers to question everything–and offers hope to those who will never stop seeking and sharing real love.

Ask the Passengers really grew on me. For awhile there, it was a bit hard to connect to this but this is my first A.S. King book and I’ve heard nothing but good things about her work so I wanted to keep reading to see what all of the praise was about – and I’m glad I kept reading! As I continued, I started to connect more and more with Astrid as she tries to navigate being gay and being in the closet in a small town that doesn’t take too kindly to anything different while also living in a household that claims to be liberal but in reality, lets society’s standards rule and reign.

By household, I mean Astrid’s mother. Astrid’s mother is all about appearances and controlling the perfect family appearance rather than actually working hard to create/maintain a truly happy family. She doesn’t seem to care at all about the heart of the matter with any of her children. Astrid’s mother needs to have all of the answers and when they’re not all there and not delivered in the way that she envisioned, everyone but her is at fault. Basically, Astrid’s mother is quick to judge and dismiss what’s not made plain to her. But the world isn’t plain and everything can’t be fit into boxes and I loved the scene when Astrid talks about things that can be put into boxes.

The thing about unconditional love is…it’s boundless. And until this true understanding, this thoughtfulness, this respect for another human being is had, there will be issues with people like Astrid’s mother receiving and giving such a gift. What a fascinating character study on Astrid’s mom there. All of the characters are really fascinating actually. Astrid’s mom resents her husband who could have gone to law school and that strain just adds to the disconnect in the home, leading them to not being on the same page more than usual when it comes to parenting Astrid and Ellis. Not really having their priorities all together there period.

Astrid is well aware of just how broken her family, her home is. While Ellis, a year younger, is still in denial, holding onto the few good things she still can. It’s rough. Because Astrid and Ellis are in completely different head spaces, Astrid can’t depend on or honestly talk with her sister. And because she’s still in the closet and isn’t ready to talk to her closeted friends about her sexuality, she doesn’t really have anyone to talk to. So she talks to the passengers in the airplanes that fly overhead.

She sends love to the passengers and asks questions to the passengers, questions they’ll never hear from her but do hear within themselves during the many varied circumstances that are leading them across the nation. And this, this is so beautiful the execution of this element of traveling doubts because we’ve all done it. We’ve all looked up into the sky and wondered about the lives of the people in the airplane passing by or been in a plane, looking below at the people wondering how they get through their day. A.S. King has nailed it on paper. It’s fantastic. It’s seamlessly intertwined into the story and really is a joy to see. I wish there were more passenger stories!

No matter where in the world, people have flaws and conflicts and relationship issues whether with family, friends, significant others, etc… and this story so effortlessly lays it all out for the reader to see as we follow Astrid on her journey of self-acceptance as she discovers what unconditional love means and realizes that people, even our closest loved ones, make a choice to give it. Ask the Passengers is a solid coming of age story, yes, but it’s also a story that anyone can and should read if they want to be challenged on what it means to love without borders and what it often can be like for the person whose being closed in by them.

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King is available today.