The Art Of Holding On and Letting Go

10th Anniversary Edition coming Oct. 20th, 2026!

Preorder now! 25% of all preorder sales will be donated to Kids Empowered on the Move, a Metro Detroit nonprofit.

Read a sample!


For ages 12 and up

  • Junior Library Guild Selection

  • Great Lakes Great Books Award honor title

"When every piece falls into place, it’s like a dance,
a delicate but powerful balancing act.”

Competitive climber Cara Jenkins feels most at home high off the ground, clinging to a rock by her fingertips.

Raised by mountaineering parents, she’s grown up roaming the world, making the natural landscape her playground and the writings of Annie Dillard and Henry David Thoreau her guides. But when tragedy interrupts an expedition on an Ecuadorian mountaintop, Cara’s nomadic life is abruptly upended. Sent to live with her grandparents in suburban Detroit, Cara begins a year of unexpected discovery, finding friendship, first love, humor, and moments of joy alongside grief. As she navigates what she may have lost, Cara learns that healing doesn’t require certainty, and that love, connection, and even home can take shape in surprising ways, with moments of sparkle along the way.

Available wherever books are sold.

Audio book available via Audible

Bookshop.org: Independent Book Stores
Amazon
Order a signed copy at Sidetrack Bookshop
Barnes & Noble

Download free resources!

Discussion Guide - ten questions for classrooms and teen/adult bookclubs

Educator’s Guide - a 36-page guide for teachers with activities and writing prompts. Adaptable for use with other novels too!

Book cover for 'The Art of Holding On and Letting Go' by Kristin Bartley Lenz, featuring a silhouette of a woman's profile with a landscape scene inside, showing mountains, trees, and city buildings against a dark starry sky.

What People are Saying

  • “Cara is an appealing, engaging narrator. Surrounded by a well-rounded cast, Cara's journey toward a peaceful, fulfilling life is almost perfectly depicted. A compelling, unusual coming-of-age story.” 

    - Kirkus

  • "A hot pick for outdoorsy teens who like relatable characters, with a bit of romance, mystery, and a road trip."

    - School Library Journal

  • "Debut author Lenz offers a thoughtful meditation on life after loss with the story of 15-year-old Cara Jenkins, a competitive climber. Lenz effortlessly explains complicated climbing terminology and intermixes moments of levity with contemplative quotations from naturalists and mountain climbers,​"

    - Publishers Weekly

  • Detroit is the last place (Cara) expects to heal, but her transformation is convincingly handled in this eloquent debut. The novel is rich in descriptions of the natural world that Cara loves, as well as intricate climbing sequences which describe so much more than the struggle to conquer a rock wall. A cast of complex secondary characters help Cara find her balance and her way back home. This thoughtful novel rises above the label of “sports book” to a contemplative exploration of how we grieve and move forward."


    - Booklist

  • The title eloquently captures not only the spirit of this book but also the very essence of adolescence. The teenage main character, Cara, examines this theme throughout and, with any luck, she will inspire readers to do the same. Although this tale is about one of the most risky and exhilarating sports of all, this book is rather quiet, gradual, and sweet.

    - VOYA

  • “Cara’s story is about finding yourself, your family and your center. Lenz encourages readers to think outside the pages, to find their own place in the world as Cara discovers hers.”

    - Meghan Dietsche Goel, BookPeople, Austin, TX​

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