Eleven-year-old Philip Compton lives in a trailer park in Anchorage, Alaska, where his family relies on his single working mother's limited income. He's handsome, but few of his classmates can see past his unfashionable clothes and home-cut hair.
Philip's intellect and emotional maturity further separate him from his classmates. He's fond of math and science-and it's during science time that he begins to fall in love.
Penny Foster, also eleven, doesn't pay much attention to her appearance, although her affluent parents pay for everything she needs. Like Philip, she's smart, precocious, and given to thinking deeply about life. As she gives her presentation on hydroponics, she's unaware that Philip is falling for her.
What Philip experiences isn't puppy love or infatuation. He feels true, selfless love for Penny-and eventually he realizes he must tell her so even if she rejects him. To his delight, Penny reciprocates his feelings.
Too young for anything beyond the most innocent expressions of love, Philip and Penny just want to spend time together. Their happiness is threatened, however, by parents who believe preteens cannot-and should not-feel such deep emotions. Unless Penny and Philip make a stand, their love will end before it even begins.
About the Author :
Dan Nelson is a single parent raising a teenage son in Portland, Oregon.
While A Map and a Compass is not autobiographical, it was inspired by Nelson's own childhood experiences growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, where he later attended the University of Alaska and studied theatre.
