August 6, 2024, 6:30 PM at Meriden Library: Ken Cadow
Books
Gather
A 2023 National Book Award Finalist
A Michael L. Printz Honor Book
A resourceful teenager in rural Vermont struggles to hold on to the family home while his mom recovers from addiction in this striking debut novel.
Ian Gray isn’t supposed to have a dog, but a lot of things that shouldn’t happen end up happening anyway. And Gather, Ian’s adopted pup, is good company now that Ian has to quit the basketball team, find a job, and take care of his mom as she tries to overcome her opioid addiction. Despite the obstacles thrown their way, Ian is determined to keep his family afloat no matter what it takes. And for a little while, things are looking up: Ian makes friends, and his fondness for the outdoors and for fixing things lands him work helping neighbors. But an unforeseen tragedy results in Ian and his dog taking off on the run, trying to evade a future that would mean leaving their house and their land. Even if the community comes together to help him, would Ian and Gather have a home to return to?
Told in a wry, cautious first-person voice that meanders like a dog circling to be sure it’s safe to lie down, Kenneth M. Cadow’s resonant debut brings an emotional and ultimately hopeful story of one teen’s resilience in the face of unthinkable hardships.
About the author
Kenneth Cadow lives in Vermont with his wife and three children, a dog and three cats. Throughout his multiple careers of student, taxi driver, naval officer, grocery store owner, editor, and high school and middle school art teacher, one thing has remained constant: he has always been a writer. For several years, he was editor of The Upper Valley Parents' Paper, a parenting magazine that served New Hampshire and Vermont.
Mr. Cadow has run away many times in his life. Starting at age six, when he skipped school by hiding in a raspberry patch. He found it rather boring, and when he returned home, his mother asked him if the berries were ripe (yes, she knew it all along). Another time, around the age of nine, he dug a hole for a fort, covered it with a rotting piece of plywood, and decided to live the life subterranean. Although he brought his stuffed dog, Smooch, his sleeping bag, and peanut butter crackers, the venture was even shorter and he was home within the half-hour. His love of forts has not outgrown him, but these days, he runs away with his family to a 700 year-old house in a hamlet of southern France, and to a yurt in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.