THE ART OF HOLDING ON AND LETTING GO

THE ART OF HOLDING ON AND LETTING GO
308 Pages
ISBN 9780996864916

​"When every piece falls into place, it’s like a dance, a delicate but powerful balancing act. The art of holding on and letting go ​at the same time."

Competitive climber Cara Jenkins feels most at home high off the ground, clinging to a rock wall by the tips of her fingers. She’s enjoyed a roaming life with her mountaineering parents, making the natural world her jungle gym, the writings of Annie Dillard and Henry David Thoreau her textbooks. But when tragedy strikes on an Ecuadorian mountaintop, Cara’s nomadic lifestyle comes to an abrupt halt.

Starting over at her grandparents’ home in suburban Detroit, Cara embarks on a year of discovery, uncovering unknown strengths, friendships, and first love. Cara’s journey illustrates the transformative power of nature, love and loss, and discovering that home can be far from where you started.​

Kristin Bartley Lenz

About Kristin Bartley Lenz (Detroit, Michigan Author)

Kristin Bartley Lenz

Kristin Bartley Lenz is the Michigan bestselling author of the young adult novel, The Art of Holding On and Letting Go. This “eloquent debut” (Booklist), “hot pick” (School Library Journal), and “compelling, unusual coming-of-age novel” (Kirkus) was the 2016 Helen Sheehan YA Book Prize winner, a 2016 Junior Library Guild Selection, and chosen for the 2017-2018 Great Lakes Great Books state-wide literature program.

Kristin's fiction, essays, and articles have been published by Hunger Mountain, Great Lakes Review, and Writer's Digest. A graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in psychology and Wayne State University with a M.S.W., she now blends her social work and writing careers by writing freelance for Detroit area non-profits and social service agencies. Kristin also manages the Michigan Chapter blog for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

Kristin grew up in Farmington, MI, then moved to Georgia and California where she fell in love with the mountains. Now she's back in metro-Detroit where she plots wilderness escapes with her husband, daughter, and two puppies. Learn more at www.kristinbartleylenz.com