LaRoux, the female protagonist, has learning disabilities caused from a genetic deletion on the 22nd<\/sup> chromosome \u2013 a deletion my own granddaughter is challenged with. I didn\u2019t want the story to be about 22q deletion syndrome or about learning disorders, but it helped bring LaRoux to life as she struggles with dyscalculia and executive functioning difficulties \u2013and against her rigid, conservative, but loving parents \u2013 to follow her dream to be a singer.<\/p>\n Chas, the third protagonist, is fleeing his wreck of a life back home, driving his grandmother\u2019s car, a treasured antique Cadillac he took without permission.\u00a0\u00a0 Chas, the eldest and most loquacious of the three, is facing a crisis of his own, which he deals with by stealing the heirloom Cadillac and setting out on a road trip, \u201clooking for sentient life on a barren planet.\u201d (This idea came from a true story about a young man, who upon being confronted by his parents and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend with the news that he was going to be a father, his first response was to leap off the porch and run into the woods. You can\u2019t make that stuff up! Being a teenaged father is NOT Chas’s problem, however…)<\/p>\n Family turmoil interests me, as do friendships; how and why people connect. In Looking for Redfeather <\/em>I listen in on three teens from different backgrounds who run away for different reasons. Essentially, Looking for Redfeather<\/em> is a 21st<\/sup> century road trip story. Like Jack Kerouac these kids are looking for life \u2013but their problems are more immediate and more concrete than those of the iconic Beat author.\u00a0 And LaRoux has a personal goal driving her — a goal that does not include getting laid by the male protagonists. Imagine that, Jack Kerouac!<\/p>\n
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