Super Short Summary

In Andrew Smith's young adult science fiction novel The Alex Crow, Ariel Burgess, a survivor of a brutal attack on his Middle Eastern village, is adopted by a tech-savvy family in Virginia. Ariel and his adopted brother, Max, are sent to a technology-free summer camp, where Ariel meets peculiar characters and uncovers unsettling truths about the camp's mission. Concurrent narratives include the doomed voyage of the 1880s ship Alex Crow and the story of the "melting man," whose delusions lead to violent urges. Material related to violent attacks on civilians, warfare, and trauma.