Down and Across

John Green fans will appreciate Down

and Across ( the tale of Philadelphia high-schooler Scott Ferdowski and his runaway adventure in Washington, D.C., to find direction in his life. A noncommittal sort who gets turned on to the concept of having “grit,” Scott ditches his research internship when his parents travel to Iran to tend to a sick family member. Instead, he ventures off to find a Georgetown psychology professor of note and along the way befriends mercurial college student Fiona Buchanan. A twist on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, Fiona creates crossword puzzles and is apt to just disappear at the drop of a hat. But she takes a special interest in Scott, becoming one of the few people who calls him by his birth name Sakeet. Ahmadi surrounds this twosome with a bunch of comedic situations and successfully fashions a universal story of discovering one’s true self through the honest eyes of another.