Takeoffs and Landings by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Lori and Chuck accompany their widowed mother one summer as she tours the country side giving motivational speeches to different groups, from bankers to farmers. Told from both young adults' point of veiw, the reader gains insights into each character and gains a great deal of information about why this family, while seemingly normal, borders on dysfunctional. Lori shows a great deal of anger toward her mother for seemingly abandoning her and her brothers and sisters at her grandparents house. She also harbors extreme hatred, which seems very misguided until the last chapters of the book, toward her brother who walks several circles below her sister socially, due to others' extremely poor perception of Chuck and his intellect. The book closes too nicely with an explanation from Mom about why she gives speeches and the circumstances behind their father's untimely death, which allows everyone to 'get along' better.