In her new book, “Project F,” Jeanne DuPrau takes us yet again far into the future to a different kind of world. It’s a simpler world where there is some electricity, but little technology. Through the eyes of main character fourteen-year-old Keith, we learn about a world in which there are no cars, no planes, no smart phones. Instead people take trains if they need to travel long distances, they bike within their small cities, and they walk. Life as we know it today is hundreds of years in the past.
Keith is an adventurous type and often daydreams at school. At the beginning of the story, he offers to go to the coastal town where his six-year-old cousin Lulu needs to be picked up. Her parents decided to move their family to the coast where the weather was nicer, but both parents drowned in the ocean in a freak accident. Keith is excited about getting to ride on the train for the first time.
On his way to get Lulu, he sits next to a man whose bag is identical to Keith’s, and when the man gets off at a stop called Graves Mountain, he takes Keith’s bag by mistake. Keith doesn’t find this out until the overnight stop at an inn, where he investigates the contents of the bag, ostensibly to see if the man’s address is there. What he does find are some cryptic documents about something called Project F, which the man, Malcolm, had referred to in their brief conversation on the train and then refused to elaborate when Keith asked questions.
Keith decides to ignore his parents’ warnings about getting caught up in things, and he stops at Graves Mountain on the return with Lulu ostensibly to return the man’s bag but really to find out more about the mysterious Project F. He assumes, wrongly, that Graves Mountain will have an inn just like the other stops, but Keith is mistaken. That’s the beginning of Keith’s adventure and moral dilemma.
What DuPrau does really well is present situations where children must make difficult decisions. Even little Lulu struggles with a secret that she is hiding about her parents’ deaths, and now, after her adventure with Keith, she has promised to keep yet another secret. Keith is carried away with the excitement of Project F, and while his gut tells him that he shouldn’t get involved, his heart is so excited and thrilled at the opportunity that he does it anyway.
This is the perfect book to use as a read aloud with a class where there could be a discussion about the choices both children make. Is Lulu right to keep her secrets, and does Keith make the right decisions? It’s also a great opportunity to discuss climate change and fossil fuels and how the novel shows the impact of doing nothing. Out of control wildfires, hurricanes, rising heat, and other deleterious effects of climate change are mentioned, which is why this book would probably be banned in some states. But discussions about such topics are important, and this book will certainly cause young ones to think about the changing weather patterns on Earth as well as the importance of making informed, thoughtful choices.
Please note: This review is based on the final, hardcover book provided by the publisher, Random House, for review purposes.