14-year-old Andi Gazek, a lifelong car nut, mini-MacGyver, and expert strategizer (i.e., fibber) from Montana hits the road one abandoned summer in search of the racer father she never knew. Finding him is not enough. Now she wants him to drive a world famous 2,000-mile vintage car rally race--La Carrera Panamericana--with her in Mexico... and she expects him to teach her. What she learns, and what he learns, in their wills-clashing, car-crashing process is miles beyond any road map. 10/10ths is a lesson charged, richly peopled, coming of age adventure set in a contemporary car racing world full of high-speed hairpin curves and misdirection. For a Young Adult reader, it's a page turning dented ride to what being "family" means.
Assessment:
Fourteen-year-old Andi Gazek has a mind like MacGyver, a penchant for cars, a knack for getting in trouble, and a loosey-goosey regard for telling the truth. In this unique and fast-paced novel, she takes an impromptu trip her home in Laurel, Mont., to Mexico to find her estranged father and race in La Carrera Panamericana. Andi is a fully realized character with quirks and flaws aplenty. Unfortunately, the secondary characters need a bit more work—the use of dialect for one character’s speech distracts from any would-be character development and the relational conflicts throughout the book are too easily resolved. The prose sometimes reads as overly clever and forced and there are a few convenient plot points—but, on the whole, this delightful novel will charm its readers into rooting for Andi as they learn more about the fascinating world of long-distance vintage car racing.
Date Submitted: September 19, 2016
