An Early Winter

I’ve been writing and having books published for 40 years, so it’s inevitable that some of my titles have gone out of print. But I know that many of you still have the books in your school libraries, so I like to highlight them occasionally, especially when they touch on topics that are still highly relevant.An Early Winter (now available as a Kindle edition) is such a novel. Refusing to accept the possibility that his grandfather has Alzheimer’s disease, Tim persuades Granddad to run away with him on a fishing trip, convinced this will prove that Granddad is still capable of taking care of himself. But on the way to the lake, Granddad keeps forgetting things. When Granddad can't get them out of a dangerous situation on the water but instead makes the problem worse, Tim finally realizes his grandfather has changed, but his awareness may have come too late.Booklist said of the story, “Alzheimer's is the primary focus of the novel, but Bauer also develops a delicately layered story about blame and truth.… With its humane, complicated characters, this makes a good choice for discussion.”