A Song For the Road

When a tornado destroys his Tulsa home, fifteen-year-old Carter Danforth is trapped in the pawnshop where his father hawked his custom, left-handed Martin guitar six years earlier before taking off, leaving him with nothing but a hankering to pluck strings and enough heartache to sing the blues. Carter's mother, meanwhile, is injured during the storm and winds up in the hospital. She wants Carter to fly out to Reno and stay with her sister, but he's already spent her hidden cash stash to buy his dad's guitar. Rather than tell her the truth, he embarks on an epic road trip in search of his father in California. But Carter isn't a runaway. He reckons he's a “running to.” On the road, Carter picks up licks, chord changes, and performance techniques from a quirky cast of southwestern charmers: a rock star, a thief, a bluesman, a chanteuse-turned-chef, and the dream of a girl back home. By the time he reaches the end of old US Route 66, Carter has learned how to deep-fry yucca blossoms—and tell the truth of his life through music.

Rayne Lacko writes about emotions, creativity, and the healing power of music in Dream Up Now: The Teen Journal for Creative Self-Discovery and the YA novel A Song For The Road, an Eric Hoffer Book Award finalist. A social-emotional learning specialist with a master's in humanities, she lectures on writing and literature, advocates for social justice, and travels for inspiration. Rayne's short stories and poetry have appeared in international publications and anthologies. She lives on a forested island in Washington, US, where the trees whisper story ideas.