We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.
Ask the Passengers
In this truly original portrayal of a girl struggling to break free of society’s definitions, Printz Honor author A.S. King asks readers to question everything–and offers hope to those who will never stop seeking real love.
Astrid Jones desperately wants to confide in someone, but her mother’s pushiness and her father’s lack of interest tell her they’re the last people she can trust. Instead, Astrid spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn’t know the passengers inside, but they’re the only people who won’t judge her when she asks them her most personal questions…like what it means that she’s falling in love with a girl.
As her secret relationship becomes more intense and her friends demand answers, Astrid has nowhere left to turn. She can’t share the truth with anyone except the people she imagines flying over her at thirty thousand feet, and they don’t even know she’s there. But little does Astrid know just how much even the tiniest connection will affect these strangers’ lives–and her own–for the better.
Want Free Books?
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Praise
A 2012 Publishers Weekly Best YA Book
A 2012 School Library Journal Best Book
A 2012 Kirkus Reviews Best YA Book
A 2012 Library Journal Best YA for Adults Book
A 2012 BookPage Best Children's Book
A 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature Winner
A 2012 Los Angeles Public Library Best Teen Book
A 2012 Lambda Literary Award Finalist
A 2013 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Book
A 2013 Carolyn W. Field Award Winner
A 2013 Rainbow List Top Ten Book
A 2013 Capitol Choices Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens Book
A 2013 Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices Book
A 2013 James Cook Teen Book Award Winner
A 2014 Tennessee Volunteer Book Award Nominee
A 2014 Texas Tayshas Reading List Top Ten Book
A 2014 Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Honor Book
A Junior Library Guild Selection
* "Quite possibly the best teen novel featuring a girl questioning her sexuality written in years."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* "At once much more than a coming out novel and one of the best coming-out novels in years.... Funny, provocative, and intelligent, King's story celebrates love in all its messy, modern complexity."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "Another thoughtful, and often breathtaking, achievement for King, whose star is ascending as quickly as one of Astrid's planes."—Booklist, starred review
* "King's thoughtful, sad, funny, and frank book...will appeal to any mature teen resisting the pressure to conform or rebel [and] anyone who wants to define herself on her own terms."—School Library Journal, starred review
* "For kids struggling with their own truths, it can be hard to believe how much light there is once you come out of the cave. This is a book that knows and understands that, and it's one that readers will believe."—The Bulletin, starred review
* "A furiously smart and funny coming-out-and-of-age novel."—The Horn Book, starred review
"Astrid is a model of strength and compassion.... Good reading for everyone."—VOYA
"King has penned a work of realism that is magical in the telling."—Cooperative Children's Book Center