Coyote Lost and Found

"Yes. Because the world is craptastic sometimes. You got that part right. But it's not the sandwich that matters, Coyote. It's someone bringing you the sandwich.""When good things happen...and when those unpleasant things happen, I think: How lucky am I? It gets me through the day. Simple gratitude, my dear, is woefully underrated"Such a fantastic sequel to the first book!! So fun to read about Coyote and Rodeo's adventures with some familiar faces and some new faces along for the ride. For me the first one was a little better but there were definitely some beautiful lessons learned in this one as well.Synopsis: When Coyote finds a box of her mothers ashes, she makes it her mission to fulfill her mothers wish by spreading the ashes where she wanted. She wrote this wish in a book that her father and her loved. But where is that book?? While keeping most of the crew in the dark, she is determined to find the book and get its precious information. But Coyote will see that there is much more to this journey than she thought. And there is much more to life and grief than she realized as well.Was not expecting this book to make me cry but it absolutely did!! Characters:Coyote: back at it in all her glory! There are definitely times where she may not always be making the right choices and that can be frustrating as a reader, but as you progress through the journey, you begin to understand. When she wants something, she definitely doesn't stop until she succeedsRodeo: such a sweet dad but he is easily manipulated by Coyote which may not always be the best thing for either one of them. However, in this book, we see a lot more of his emotions and how he is dealing with the tragedy that changed their life.Salvador: everyone needs a best friend like him for sure - someone who is there for you and supporting you but will also point out how things could go wrong lolWally: I absolutely loved his character. He teaches Coyote some pretty valuable lessons and is a representative of things Coyote has never really experienced. I really loved what he added to the story for sure.Candace and Doreen: Although minor characters in my opinion, they also represented change and new beginnings, something Coyote may not always be ready to deal with. Definitely some interesting events with these two characters as well.Overall, this book was fabulous! I definitely liked the first one better but I think this book had wonderful lessons in it as well. Such a beautiful story and Gemeinhart did a great job of covering topics like grief and racism in a way that younger readers could understand and connect with. Highly recommend both books and I would totally love to see where Coyote goes from here!Quotes:"The title of best friend has got nothing to do with quantity and everything to do with quality" pg. 37"I always said that Rodeo has magic eyes because they made folks feel safe and peaceful; well, Wally had a magic smile" pg. 100"These are scary times. Look at the world. People are scared ... If the world is scary, that's all the more reason for folks to come together" pg. 140"I feel so lost. I can, like, see the person that I want to be. Brave, and kind, and confident. But I just keep messing everything up and I just can't get there" pg. 195"And maybe, way down in the middle, it was really about finding. Finding ashes and finding books and finding friends and finding where you belong and finding clues and finding wings and finding a way and then, at the end, finding peace. Because we lose a lot, all of us, on our journeys. There's no way around that. But we find a lot too, if we're lucky" pg. 272