Elijah and Danny may be brothers, but blood is just about the only thing they have in common. Sixteen-year-old Elijah is a true free-spirit. Danny is an uptight corporate suit in his twenties. Elijah lives life in the moment. Danny spends the present planning for what comes next, which usually involves work. There was a time when the brothers were closer, when Elijah idolized Danny, but those times are long gone. Tricked by their mother into spending time together, the two find themselves on a nine-day trip to Italy. On their travels, the brothers challenge each other’s patience as much as they challenge each other’s perceptions of self and one another. Danny’s maturity makes him more self-reflective (when he stops thinking about his job), while Elijah’s youth makes him more impulsive, which can land him in situations with potentially painful consequences that Danny sees coming but Elijah does not. In a story that reads in part like a travelogue, featuring dazzling descriptions of Italy’s landscape and historic and cultural sites, David Levithan chronicles a journey of two hearts and minds that turn out to be more closely bound than either would have thought. (Age 14 and older)