Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly

Seventeen year-old dirt-bike-riding daredevil Arlo Santiago catches the eye of the U.S. military with his first-place ranking on a video game featuring drone warfare, and must reconcile the work they want him to do with the emotional scars he has suffered following a violent death in his family. Adios, Nirvana author Conrad Wesselhoeft, takes readers from the skies over war-torn Pakistan to the dusty arroyos of New Mexico’s outback in this young adult novel about daring to live in the wake of unbearable loss.

For Arlo, the line between the game and reality is starting to blur.

• A Reluctant Hero: Arlo Santiago is a gaming champion and a daredevil on a dirt bike, but when the U.S. Air Force comes calling, he’s not sure he has what it takes to fly a real drone.
• Grief and Loss: Still reeling from the violent death of his mother, Arlo struggles to hold his family together, especially with his younger sister Siouxsie facing a difficult diagnosis.
• Moral Dilemmas: What feels like a game in the New Mexico desert becomes terrifyingly real over the skies of Pakistan, forcing Arlo to question the mission and his role in it.
• Coming of Age Story: A powerful novel about finding the courage to fly—on a bike, in a drone, and through unbearable loss.