A gripping new novel in verse by the author of the Printz Honor-winning Starfish, featuring a poverty-stricken boy who bravely rides out all the storms life keeps throwing at him
Joe Oak is used to living on unsteady ground. His mom can’t be depended on as she never stays around long once she gets “the itch,” and now he and his beloved grandmother find themselves without a home. Fortunately, Joe has an outlet in his journals and drawings and takes comfort from the lessons of comic books—superheroes have a lot of “and then, boom” moments, where everything threatens to go bust but somehow they land on their feet. And that seems to happen a lot to Joe too, as in this crisis his friend Nick helps them find a home in his trailer park.
But things fall apart again when Joe is suddenly left to fend for himself. He doesn’t tell anyone he’s on his own, as he fears foster care and has hope his mom will come back. But time is running out—bills are piling up, the electricity’s been shut off, and the school year’s about to end, meaning no more free meals. The struggle to feed himself gets intense, and Joe finds himself dumpster diving for meals. He’s never felt so alone—until an emaciated little dog and her two tiny pups cross his path. And fate has even more in store for Joe, because an actual tornado is about to hit home—and just when it seems all is lost, his life turns in a direction that he never could have predicted.---from the publisher
256 pages 978-0593406328 Ages 10-13
Keywords: novel in verse, abandonment, dysfunctional family, mother/son, hunger, economic insecurity, poverty and homelessness, teachers, kindness, helping others, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old, empathy, friends, friendship
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Just how much hope can one 11-year old boy be expected to hold onto? Joe Oak's mother has left him again. Whenever she reappears into his life, he watches and waits, hoping he he will be enough this time to make her want to stay and be his mom. Then the old "and then, boom" strikes again and his mom is gone leaving Joe behind to take care of himself. Lucky for Joe he has his Grandmum - a literary superhero for the ages. She knows how to give Captain American hugs right when she and Joe need them the most.
Imagine if your trip to the grocery store meant adding up the cost of every item because you don't ever want to get the checkout counter again and find out you don't have enough money for what's in your basket and you are going to have to decide what to leave behind while all the other shoppers watch "the show." Imagine you don't have any soap to wash your clothes ... or to wash yourself?
Joe and Grandmum struggle together to make the most of what they have but the mistakes that Joe's mom makes again and again just take everything away from them until finally they have to leave their house and wonder where they can make a new start? No house? No food? No shoes? A tooth that throbs with pain?
Joe's story just tears you apart and makes you ache to help him and everyone like him. You have been invited into a world of desperation that hides just under the "just enough" that Joe has to get by at school and with his friends. There is courage in this little family of two. There is love. There is hope.
Best of all though are the amazing kids Joe counts as friends. Hakeem and Nick know enough of hardship to notice and to care. It's incredible how Joe's world tilts when a savvy teacher pays attention and respects her students - all of them- enough to figure out how to lift them up with dignity. It's tissue time when friends, both kids and adults, exercise their empathy in a way that makes it seem almost ordinary and normal. It is for these guys. What an inspiring community of people.
This one probably is going to ask you to have your tissue box on hand. I know I needed mine a few times. Yes, it's sad. But this story has the added power and punch of the human beings who take the responsibility to create a village around kids and adults who need a little help - magnificent superheroes.
This book salutes the child who is fighting the fight and the caring, courageous friends who show up to tell him you are not alone anymore.
Pretty darn incredible.
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com Five stars
