Coming of Age

Zach is on the cusp of high school graduation, as are his peers. In several weeks, the status quo as he knows it will no longer be. In addition, seeing a space ship destroys any possibility there was left of “business as usual.” This critical event accentuates the need for Zach to step-up, be other than he was, mature, and move on. The first chapter sets up what was the status quo: Cruz and Diehl are his best friends, Ellen is the unrequited love of his life, Doug is his arch-nemesis, and he misses his dead father. The reader knows that all of these things will be affected by the end of the book, and maybe no longer be true. All the changes are caused by - or will cause - Zach’s personal growth. This inevitability drives the book.

The status quo is...