Nugget - John David Anderson

The award-winning author of Posted returns with the story of two kids searching for something—deep-fried, or otherwise—to believe in.

Owen and Noah don’t always see the world the same way: While Noah frets about a dozen different crises halfway around the world, Owen simply struggles to get his math homework done. But they’ve been best friends for as long as they can remember, always had each other’s backs. And like so many other kids in their school, they’re struggling—because whether your mom works two jobs to keep the lights on in your mobile home (like Owen’s), or your brother is in treatment for cancer (like Noah’s), or you’re simply trying to deal with a world that feels broken, just getting through the day is a challenge.

But then, while Noah is pondering an oddly-shaped chicken nugget in their school cafeteria, divine inspiration strikes. Everyone they know has questions about this messed up world and their place in it, and the answers they’re given from grown-ups—their parents or teachers, politicians or pastors—don’t seem to cut it anymore. And so maybe, Owen and Noah think, they should come up with some answers themselves. Find something they and their classmates can all believe in. Something that speaks directly to them.

Like their own religion.

And so begins a deeply-felt, deeply-fried tale of friendship, love, and faith in which saving the world feels impossible, but saving each other might not be.