In Fast Backward, David Patneaude’s most recent YA novel, fifteen-year-old Bobby sets out on his morning newspaper route, but what happens next blows his shorts off, literally. First, he witnesses a blinding light that grows into a mushroom cloud, but no one on the military base where he delivers papers will talk about it. Then, on his ride home, a dot in the distance takes on the shape of a girl, a naked girl in the middle of the desert at the side of the road. Thus begins Patneaude’s novel that brings WWII to life through the eyes of a young man torn by his father’s anti-war sentiments, and his uncle’s military patriotism.
Bobby realizes that this girl, Cocoa, is somehow tied to the blinding explosion. What does Bobby do? He offers the girl his carrier bag, his shorts, and a ride home. After some preliminary conversation, Cocoa realizes where she is, and what she must do.
She has knowledge she must deliver a message to those in charge in the hope of stopping nuclear bombs that decimated her world.
Are we concerned yet? Bobby is. He can hardly believe Cocoa’s crazy story, but Cocoa’s knowledge of dates, towns, and ship names make him a believer. They convince his parents and, with some effort, Bobby’s Uncle Pete. Cocoa has enough knowledge to capture the attention of some high-ranking military officials, but she also receives serious skepticism. When a bombing that she’d predicted actually happens, the Generals start listening.
Cocoa’s premonitions are a torment to her, and when she remembers something that involves Robert’s dad, a journalist and pacifist and conscientious objector, Robert’s world is turned upside down. His ideas of the world are forever changed by Cocoa, Future Girl, the girl who will save the world.
Award-winning YA author, David Patneaude effectively suspends our disbelief as he deftly crafts a world where nuclear bombs, Nazi submarines, the bombing of US cities, with two kids coming of age stuck in the middle, becomes a reality. Patneaude’s world explodes on the page in this post-apocalyptic war story that is plausible, terrifying, and quite satisfying to the spectacular end.
Fast Backward is highly recommended for young and old alike – and won First in Category in the CIBA 2019 Dante Rossetti Awards for Young Adult fiction.
