Assigned to write his autobiography, high school senior Rob Radkovitz instead creates an oral portrait of his life, centering on the search for his missing father. Lenny G. abandoned Rob's mother when she was pregnant, leaving behind a tape of his last show as a DJ and a record of the sounds of his native Louisiana. Author Paul Fleischman -- winner of the Newbery Medal for Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices and a Newbery Honor for Graven Images -- uses Rob's memories: his crusty grandfather, his adoring aunts, his mother's Spanish soap operas, his grandmother's racy mysteries read aloud, and especially and repeatedly his father's lone tape to build a counterpoint of past and present, recorded and heard, that is an ever-unfolding, ever fascinating fugue. Determined to find his father, Rob acquires a series of increasingly sophisticated radios, searching obscure stations across the country for that missing voice. This powerful need to find the absent part of his life drives the story forward as Rob both imitates his father in becoming a radio personality and makes a final break in accepting the family he has.