If you never read “The Car” by Gary Paulsen, you missed out in your late childhood. It’s easily my favorite young adult novel. It follows the story of a kid whose parents both independently decide to abandon the other on the same day, leaving him alone with his dad’s unfinished kit car. He builds it the rest of the way and sets off on a mission to drive across the country to his uncle’s house. He meets two older men along the way and they join him to keep him safe, and from that point it’s like a Huck-Finn-style collection of short adventures. And then comes the part I can’t stand.... it ends while he’s still only partway through his journey. He never reaches his uncle’s house. There’s no sequel to the book. It just ends while he and his friends are driving through the mountains. It’s been at least 12 years since I read it, and I still want closure.