The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet

When 12-year-old genius map-maker T.S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian, life as normal—if you consider mapping dinner table conversation normal—is interrupted and a wild cross-country adventure begins. During his journey, T.S. discovers a secret family history in his luggage. And the farther he travels, the greater he understands home. All that he has learned is tested when he arrives at the capital and is welcomed into science's inner circle only to find that fame seems to overshadow ideas. T.S. struggles to find a way to map the delicate lessons learned about family and self, and questions whether there is a definitive way to communicate the ebbs and tides of heartbreak, loss, and loneliness in this exhilarating, funny, endlessly charming, and unbearably poignant debut novel.