Seventeen-year-old Blade Morrison is the son of a rich and famous rock star who is "too busy kissing his ego" to notice his son unless he's humiliating him in front of his entire graduating class. After screaming "I LOVE ROCK 'N ROLL" and crashing his motorcycle into the podium where Blade was about to give the salutatorian speech, Blade's dad, Rutherford, admits himself (yet again) to rehab. Blade's sister, Storm, is attempting to trace her own trajectory to fame while Blade scorns the privileged and paparazzi-pursued lifestyle he and his family have always led. Their mother died 10 years ago, leaving the family unmoored and still heartbroken.
After his calamitous graduation, dissatisfaction and discomfort with his life reach a peak. When Blade's sister blows her top and reveals an earth-shattering secret about him, Blade has finally had enough. Armed with nothing more than some searches about his newly mysterious heritage (and, presumably, a credit card), he hops a plane to Ghana. What follows is an epic hero's journey, interrupted by yet another unwelcome appearance by Rutherford and his stage crew and cameraman.
Newbery Medal-winning author and poet Kwame Alexander (The Crossover; Out of Wonder; Booked) works again with Mary Rand Hess (Animal Ark) who, as an author, poet, screenwriter and editor, has ample experience with high-profile celebrities. The two have woven an elaborate saga of overindulgence, regrets, identity and redemption. At its heart, this is a story about finding one's truest self within and in spite of one's first identity. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor