This story is the debut novel by Andrew Graff. It's about two boys, Bread and Fish, who take off into the wilderness of rural Minnesota after a tragic accident. This read like a YA novel. While the book was entertaining, it bogged down in places. The ending was not realistic. Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. 3 Stars

Andrew Graff's tale of two boys trying to escape the consequences of their actions and their family and neighbors rapid reactions to keep the boys safe from the dangers of the wilderness makes for a engrossing and humorous adventure filled with danger, unexpected events and well thought out character development. One of the best books by far this year.

This was such a good book!! I loved how real the scenarios were with both the young boys’ lives: an absent & aching father vs. an intense & grieving father and how the differences affected each boy in seemingly typical and also unique ways. I loved how a grandfather was stepping in to call out who the boys could become in spite of their respective examples (or lack thereof) of what a good man is. I loved how fiercely the women in this book love their men and how they took care of each other, particularly as pertains to Tiff having not had many women/mother/friend examples in her life to model. So much overcoming the past and the present and so much healing written this well is refreshing to read. Thank you to the author and publishers for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Raft of Stars by Andrew J. Graff.

Synopsis: It’s the summer of 1994 in Claypot, Wisconsin, and the lives of ten-year-old Fischer “Fish” Branson and Dale “Bread” Breadwin are shaped by the two fathers they don’t talk about.
One night, tired of seeing his best friend bruised and terrorized by his no-good dad, Fish takes action. A gunshot rings out and the two boys flee the scene, believing themselves murderers. They head for the woods, where they find their way onto a raft, but the natural terrors of Ironsforge gorge threaten to overwhelm them.
Four adults track them into the forest, each one on a journey of his or her own. Fish’s mother Miranda, a wise woman full of fierce faith; his granddad, Teddy, who knows the woods like the back of his hand; Tiffany, a purple-haired gas station attendant and poet looking for connection; and Sheriff Cal, who’s having doubts about a life in law enforcement.
The adults track the boys toward the novel’s heart-pounding climax on the edge of the gorge and a conclusion that beautifully makes manifest the grace these characters find in the wilderness and one another. This timeless story of loss, hope, and adventure runs like the river itself amid the vividly rendered landscape of the Upper Midwest.

Andrew J Graff has a stunning debut in this beautiful story about friendship, trials and being able to finally accept who we are meant to be. I was blown away with how much I was able to connect and care for the characters within the pages. I expected a 'coming-of-age' story about the two young 10-year old boys but we see each character find a little bit of themselves on the search for the boys.

❣️What I liked:
- The tender moments scattered throughout and specially at the ending in which you see innocence and love prevail
- The internal fight of multiple characters of right vs. wrong and ultimately being able to choose to do the right thing - we see this from Tiffany selflessly helping Miranda to Fish realizing telling Bread the truth about his father will be the only thing that could save their lives
- Having the courage to admit to what you truly want and what will truly make you happy. From Teddy knowing what brought him happiness to Cal realizing a simple life is what he years for.

🧐What I didn't love:
- At times it seemed a bit disjointed and made it a bit hard for me to see which part of the story each character was at
- The heavy focus on the trials of the journey seemed to overwhelm the purpose of the story a bit and dragged on in chapters for a bit

All in all this is a beautifully written story and the imagery throughout the pages are truly beautiful making you feel like you're there in the forest. A narrative about loss and trauma and at the end of the day knowing that we are the only ones that get to decide we are good and worthy of love.

Definitely recommend reading this one for a quick literary fiction debut!

I absolutely love this cover! It's gorgeous! This is a true coming-of-age story that is extremely well written. I felt like this would be a piece of literature you'd find in a high school English classroom. It was a bit different than I had expected, but the plot and characters were so well developed, it really drew me in. There was even a bit of suspense there for me! All in all, and entertaining read.

This was a great adventure story that had unusual heros and heroines. Set in northern Wisconsin mostly on a river, the story is about Fish and Bread, two 10 year old boys who are on the run from the law after Fish shoots Bread’s abusive father.

Cal, the sheriff, Tiffany, a convenience store clerk who has a cruch on Cal, Fish’s mom and Fish’s grandfather are all searching for the boys.

It’s a great story that has realistic characters and good descriptions of northern Wisconsin.
It has a satisfying ending, too.

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

Andrew J. Graff's debut, Raft of Stars, is a magnificent saga of friendship, loss and heroism, wrapped in the fallout of war and action that recalls adventure stories of old. In 1994 Claypot, Wis., 10-year-old best friends Fischer "Fish" Branson and Dale "Bread" Breadwin tear around town on their Huffys and roam the Northwoods, exploring and escaping their respective sorrows. Fish is mourning his military father's death, which precipitates his summer visits to Claypot, to his maternal grandfather, Teddy Branson, widower and Korean war veteran. Bread's father is an abusive drunk they avoid at all costs.

At the local gas mart, Tiffany works the counter, staving off homelessness, bantering with the locals and trying to catch the attention of Sheriff Cal. Cal is new to town, up from Houston where his confrontation with a violent parolee made a fresh start necessary. After Fish shoots Bread's father to stop another beating, the boys pack supplies, leave a note for Teddy and run away to build a raft and live off the land. The life-battered locals join with Fish's stalwart mother, Miranda, in a frantic search for the boys in the Wisconsin wilderness.

As the pairs (Fish and Bread, Teddy and Cal, Tiffany and Miranda) converge at the perilous gorge rapids the boys don't know exist, they learn about themselves, each other and the things that are most important. Graff's nature writing is absorbing, and his characters generate a yearning to know them. Raft of Stars is a quest story full of heart and humor.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Raft of Stars by Andrew Graff.

This is just the *chef's kiss* of adventure stories. Huck Finn, move on over! It has everything. Romance, friendship, danger, internal conflicts, and overcoming, again and again. It was paced so well, the characters were fleshed out perfectly, I very much enjoyed myself.

Fish and Bread are best friends, so much so that Bread often spends days at Fish's house with his grandpa. But the reasons go much deeper than summer fun. Bread's father is cruel, and often raises his hands to him, giving Bread plenty of reasons to stay away. But one fateful evening, Fish has decided he has had enough of watching Bread's abuse, and takes matters into his own hands.

Is it weird that I kind of got Stranger Things vibes from this book? Minus the supernatural aspect, the kids are the main focus, while the adults around them grapple with their own issues and relationships. It was very good and very fun.

Loved it. I didn't expect to have so many emotions during this book. There were moments I had to set it down because I was so frustrated with the characters and there were moments I had to remember to breathe because I feared heartbreak. At its heart, it is a coming-of-age story people will/should talk about for a long time. If your book club enjoyed talking about Ordinary Grace or This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, put this on your list for the summer!

Skip the audiobook - the narrator's pacing wasn't quite right for the tone of the book.

Thank you NetGalley, author Andrew J.Graff, and Echo for giving my a free E-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
4 stars
This book is a coming-of-age cotemporary YA story about the journey of two boys and the meaning of family and friendship.
In the summer of 1994, ten-year-old Fischer “Fish” Branson and Dale “Bread” Breadwin have fathers that are not the best role models for what it means to be a man. After one too many times of seeing his best friend "Bread" bruised and scared due to his father, "Fish" decides to take action to help his friend. Believing to be murderers, "Fish" and "Bread" escape into the forest onto a raft and sets out to find a better life.
Will they find redemption and start a new life or will their action catch up with them as the law and other adults pursue them?
This book is a debut novel . I am not usually a fan of Literary fiction, but the characters and the writing kept me engaged until the very end. I was drawn into the lives of not only the boys, but also the adults that set out to find and help the boys. Each adult had their own journeys to consider. I was rooting for Tiffany and the sheriff. They were such well developed characters and seemed well suited for each other. The friendship between "Fish" and "Bread" was so sweet and strong! The pacing and writing was very deep and descriptive, which caused the story to drag in some places. The ending had me holding my breathe and well satisfied at the conclusion. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoyed such books as "Huck Fin" and "Tom Sawyer." I look forward to reading more books by this author.

This is a few stories all wrapped interwoven into a coming-of-age adventure centering on two 10-year-old boys -- Fish and Bread -- running away from home.

After Fish shoots Bread's abusive father, the boys decide to leave home rather than face the consequences. They head off into the woods, where they put to use some of the survival skills Fish's grandfather taught him and learn some new skills along the way. They also learn more about each other, nature, and much more.

In the meantime, Sheriff Cal and Fish's grandfather go out looking for the boys. The older man teaches the sheriff- a transplant from Houston -- about surviving in the wilderness, and how to track people in it. He throws in some life lessons along the way, too. The sheriff's story does add quite a bit of comic relief as he struggles with life in a small rural town after living in a major city.

While all of that is happening, Fish's mother Miranda and convenience store worker Tiffany (who has a flirtation going on with the sheriff) decide it's going to take women to find the boys. Tiffany, who is my favorite character, learns she's stronger than she realized in more ways than she realized.

As the story nears its end, during a tornado on the river where the search is taking place, the boys' lives are threatened by a person who they are shocked to see.

Published by HarperCollins/Ecco on March 23, 2021

Raft of Stars begins as a crime story and transforms into an adventure story, pitting three pairs of characters against nature (and sometimes against each other) as they navigate a river and forest during a violent storm. Dale Breadwin (“Bread”) and Fischer Branson (“Fish”) are best friends. Bread’s father abuses him. Fish’s father is dead, although he’s kept that a secret from Bread. The story begins with Fish shooting Bread’s father. The father had it coming, but Fish and Bread decide that running away is the better part of valor, so they set out on a Huck Finn adventure, building a raft and heading down the river.

Sheriff Cal investigates the shooting. Cal left a job in Houston after he behaved in a way that was evidently too violent even for the Houston police. Coping with crime gave Cal a drinking problem. His former boss in Houston somehow got Cal a job as interim sheriff in a northern Wisconsin county. Cal isn’t much of a cop but the county probably doesn’t need or want much of a cop.

Fish’s grandfather, Ted Branson, has a gruff manner and a good heart, a combination found in fiction more often than reality but one that appeals to readers. Ted teams with Cal to follow the kids on horseback. Ted does most of the work because Cal is no friend of horses. They exchange philosophies of life as they track the kids. Cal hates being a cop and is thinking about taking up farming. Ted hates farming — it bores him to death — but he gave up his dreams when he had a child because responsible people “give things up instead of burning the whole thing down. You just don’t light the match. You suffer when you need to.” There aren’t enough people like Ted in the world.

Tiffany Robins was born in the small Wisconsin town and expects to die there. Opportunities have not graced her life. She sees the new sheriff as an opportunity. Before she gets to know him, however, Bread and Fish are on the run and Tiffany has lost the sheriff’s dog. She teams with Fish’s mother, Miranda, to follow the boys in a canoe. Their adventure is a lesson in self-confidence for Tiffany.

Some of the story is familiar. There are bears because you can’t have a wilderness adventure without bears. There are rapids because you can’t have a river adventure without rapids. There’s a love interest because, well, just because. Yet the story isn’t entirely predictable, in part because the characters are more important than their adventures. And despite the familiarity of scenes involving bears and rapids, the scenes are so well written that they create the excitement and tension an adventure novel should deliver.

The story as a whole is sweet, occasionally bordering on saccharine, but not so often that the artificial sweetener becomes annoying. At times, the story is a bit too corny (even the names Bread and Fish are corny in tandem). I could have done without the apparent heavenly intervention that helps Fish out of a jam. Still, the novel works because the characters grow and change, in part because quarreling with each other forces them to take stock of their lives. The novel’s merits easily outweigh its flaws.

RECOMMENDED

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for ARC. A 5⭐️ read for fans of This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace and We Begin at the End. How could I not love a book set in the Wisconsin north woods where two young boys escape to the river and all its dangers after shooting one of the boy’s abusive father. Following them is the sheriff with one of the boy’s grandfather and separately that boy’s mother with a local woman she just met. All of these characters are special and regardless of age, each comes of age during this adventure thriller that will warm your heart.

This is a story about friendship, survival, and overcoming obstacles in life told through the eyes of a young boy on the run, a weary sheriff, and a purple-haired gas station clerk just trying to get by. Fish and his best friend Bread are running away after shooting Bread's abusive father and have to learn the hard way how to survive navigating down a river all the while being "chased" by the sheriff and a group of adults.

Told with beautiful descriptions that make you feel like you are in the woods and on the river, this story was captivating and filled with emotion and adventure.

This started off strong and followed through. Basically, this is an adventure with six people all struggling with real, raw, and different internal issues only to come together to figure themselves out.

I really liked the dimensions of the characters and how it felt like everyone was their own person. The story flowed well and the description was great. This was one of those books I found it easy to connect with all the characters for different reasons.

I think it would also make a good movie! Also, I love this cover ❤️

Best friends Fischer ("Fish") and Dale ("Bread") are inseparable and spend the summer of 1994 together, roaming the country around the Northwoods area of Wisconsin. Fish and his grandfather, Teddy, know that Bread's father, Jack, is physically and verbally abusive to him and do all they can to support and nurture him. One day, Fish catches Jack violently choking Bread and fires a gun to save him, killing Jack in the process. Alone and afraid, Fish and Bread go on the run, escaping into the vast, remote forest and traveling along the Menominee River. Teddy, Fish's mom, the sheriff, and a young loner named Tiffany all race into the dense woods searching for the boys. While looking for them, the adults each face a series of personal trials that test their character and forever change their lives. Meanwhile, Fish and Bread encounter dangerous wildlife, unpredictable weather, and treacherous river conditions that puts their lives in jeopardy. Will the adults be able to save the boys before it's too late?

*An April 2021 Staff Pick, Chicago Public Library

Raft of Stars by Andrew J. Graff is an exciting adventure of two ten-year olds escaping attempted murder and capture. Fish and Bread along with Sheriff Cal, Grandpa, Tiffany and Miranda are such believably characters in the backwoods of Wisconsin that I felt like I was rafting along with them or in pursuit of them every minute. So vividly written, the novel allows your imagination to run wild as the journey down river climaxes and the mystery ends.

“Please tell the sheriff that Fish didn’t want to shoot my old man. My old man is dead in my kitchen, on the floor by the table.”

Every summer, when ten-year-old Fish visits his grandfather, Tommy Branson, in rural Claypot, Wisconsin, he learns the ways of the land while spending time with his best friend, Bread. Bread stays at Tommy’s farm as much as possible to avoid his abusive single father, Jack Breadwin.

One 1994 evening, Fish witnesses one act of violence too many against Bread and, noticing Jack’s gun, decides to protect his friend. But when Jack falls to the ground, the boys–who have long fantasized about his death—aren’t quite ready for the consequences.

After raiding Tommy’s house for supplies and leaving a note—and confession—the boys flee into the dense woods, overconfident in their survival ability, not thinking of the risks of weather, predators, or other dangers.

Experienced woodsman Tommy Sheriff Cal, a Houston transplant, take off on horseback to look for the boys. Later, Fish’s mother, Miranda, a devout Pentecostal, and extremely competent, sets off on a canoe with Tiffany, a clerk from the local gas station, to reach the boys via the turbulent river.

Distanced from ordinary life and stripped from modern conveniences, the adults confront existential crises even as they must redouble their efforts to find the boys.

𝘙𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴 is written with a beautiful intensity. I felt like I suffered acutely with the characters. The boys’ sweet naïveté warms the heart but also breaks it as they become more world-weary. Miranda, particularly interesting, challenged some of my stereotypes. Although a minor character, Constable Bobby provided needed comic relief.

TW: child abuse, hunting, natural violence

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Raft of Stars

I would describe this book as a suspenseful, wilderness coming-of-age book about boys.

The Raft of Stars will take you through a journey of the Northwoods of Wisconsin, it is story where two ten-year-old boys, Fish and Bread, share a bond of friendship. The boys are not the only ones who are tested as they run away from the murder that Fish committed in order to save Bread from his abusive father. We meet other important characters who help mold the journey of Fish and Bread. The sheriff, The Grandfather, Fish's mother, Bread's father and Tiff, the local girl.

The book takes you through fear, sadness, loss and growth. I enjoyed how the author wove the past relationships, new relationships and the challenges each character has faced within the storyline. I gave this book 3 stars, which means it was good overall, maybe some issues, but enjoyable. I felt that I was able to stay engaged in the story. There were a few surprises that I did not guess and that kept me interested in the book, even though the majority of the book was predictable. I believe that I would recommend this book.

Raft of Stars
By Andrew J. Graff

This book is what is referred to as a "coming of age" story. But it is so much more than that. It also is the story of how adults must find their way through various crises and trauma before they can come to terms with what is really important in their lives.

Fish and Bread (Fischer Brandon and Dale Breadwin) are two ten year old boys who are best friends. Fish's father, whom he dearly loved, was killed on a military deployment. Fish has never told his friend that his dad is dead, but instead has made up lies as to where he is.

Bread, on the other hand, lives with a violent, drunken, abusive father. One day, Fish comes upon Bread's father beating up his terrified son. In the ensuing confrontation Fish shoots Bread's father and the two boys – who fear he is dead – decide to run away together into a vast forest to avoid the consequences.

Gradually a cast of adults is introduced: Fish's grandpa, Teddy; Miranda, Fish's mom; Sheriff Cal; Tiffany, the convenience store clerk who pines for the sheriff; and Bobby, the deputy sheriff.

While the boys, during their grueling trek, learn many lessons about life, love, loyalty, faith, and honesty, so do the adults in various ways. These are lessons that we all should take away from this book.