MMGM Middle Grade Audiobook Review: 24 Hours in Nowhere

I'm posting this morning with the Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop. The hop is sponsored by  Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle. Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. 

I've been on a bit of a roll with audiobooks by Dusti Bowling (see reviews)  and ended up listening to yet another last week. 

 

Title: 24 Hours in Nowhere
Author: Dusti Bowling; read by Aaron Shedlock
Publication Info: 2019, Tantor Media. 5 hours. Original hardcover Sterling Children's Books, 2018, 260 pages
Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb:
Welcome to Nowhere, Arizona, the least livable town in the United States. For Gus, a bright 13-year-old with dreams of getting out and going to college, life there is made even worse by Bo Taylor, Nowhere’s biggest, baddest bully. When Bo tries to force Gus to eat a dangerously spiny cactus, Rossi Scott, one of the best racers in Nowhere, comes to his rescue—but in return she has to give Bo her prized dirt bike. Determined to buy it back, Gus agrees to go searching for gold in Dead Frenchman Mine, joined by his old friends Jessie Navarro and Matthew Dufort, and Rossi herself. As they hunt for treasure, narrowly surviving everything from cave-ins to mountain lions, they bond over shared stories of how hard life in Nowhere is—and they realize this adventure just may be their way out.

My Review:  
The blurb definitely oversimplifies the complex relationships in this book--the kids aren't exactly friends when the book starts, and there's a lot of complicated history for a bunch of 13-yeary-olds (for anyone who thinks kids can't have complicated histories, Bowling does a great job of convincing you otherwise). If there's one message that comes across loud and clear it's that everyone has history, everyone has challenges.

I admit I almost gave up on this book early on, because Bowling does bullying excruciatingly well. Serious bullying. The kind that could prove life-threatening. I wasn't sure I wanted to read about that, but I'm glad I pushed through, because she also does friendship well, and adventure. 24 Hours gives us a group of kids who have to work through their history and feelings, in order to survive the insane danger they've put themselves into, and lets us watch them do it in a gripping and entertaining way. Plus, there's as happy an ending as you could expect, and better than was likely.

I don't really remember much about the narration, so I will assume it was done right--i.e., transparent to my memory of the book. 

My Recommendation: 
Perfect for kids in middle school (10 or 11 up to 13 or so); I'm not sure about younger kids as we deal with old skeletons and old murders, as well as a kind of bullying that you'd hope they don't need to know about. There are just hints of crushes, in a totally innocent way.

 

 



FTC Disclosure: I checked 24 Hours in Nowhere out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  


  

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026 

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