Yuri Strelnikov is a genius. He finished high school at the age of 12 and proceeded to breeze through his undergraduate and doctorate degrees. Now, at 17, he's one of the top physicists in the world. That's why, when a giant, planet-killing asteroid is discovered on a collision course with earth, the United States comes calling.
Yuri is plucked from Moscow and promptly transplanted to Pasadena, home of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he is to join an elite team of specialists dedicated to avoiding the seemingly inevitable. Yuri is convinced his particular specialty, antimatter, is the key to avoiding complete annihilation (and making him a shoo-in for the Nobel Prize). His age, coupled with the unpublished and experimental nature of Yuri's antimatter research, makes any of Yuri's proposals seem outlandish to the other scientists at JPL. While Yuri is every bit a mental match for every scientist in the place, he's still very much a 17-year-old, ego and all.
Yuri works hard but ultimately fails to connect on a personal level with anyone he encounters until Dovie enters his orbit. Through her, Yuri meets her eclectic family (a stark contrast from Yuri's emotionally distant mother), attends his first day in an American public high school (a hilariously disastrous affair) and embarks on a number of minor adventures (with varying degrees of consequence). He's almost figuring out how to be an actual teenager instead of the adult he's been forced to become. He also knows he really needs to be focusing on saving the world and not trying to convince Dovie and her brother to teach him to swear, but surely there's a way to do both, right? Besides, if Yuri can't convince his superiors to trust his proposal, this might be his last chance to any of the things a kid his age is supposed to do. Things like kissing a certain American girl, for example.
"Learning to Swear in America," by Katie Kennedy, is equal parts science-based thriller and romantic comedy, the sum of which is a very entertaining and unusual novel. Yuri's plight is almost as potentially tragic as it is humorous. He's an extraordinary character in an extraordinary situation, but the narrative never feels forced or sensationalized. As the asteroid hurtles toward the Pacific Rim, the days count down and tension builds, yet Yuri remains as delightfully sarcastic and relatable as ever.
The risks Yuri takes could have catastrophic consequences, and readers will find themselves debating the ethics behind some of the choices Yuri is forced to make. At the same time, a sweet friendship builds between Yuri, Dovie and the rest of Dovie's family, providing both comic relief and a poignant reminder about the things in life worth saving. Readers of all types will find something to appreciate in this quirky novel.
Courtney Waters is the teen services librarian at Missouri River Regional Library.