When Jack's P.E. coach pairs him up with Jay Perkins for the cross-country team, neither of them is happy about it. Jack is grieving the loss of Joseph, his foster brother, and adjusting to his role as big brother to Jupiter, Joseph’s orphaned daughter. Dealing with Jay Perkins—who'd once ganged up with his buddies to jump Joseph in the locker room—is the last thing he wants to do.
But then Jack realizes that Jay is grieving too—the loss of his cousin Maddie, Jupiter’s mom.
As Jack's relationships with both Jay and Jupiter grow and his running improves, he starts to feel more like himself than he has since Joseph died. He's finding his stride . . . until Maddie’s parents, who have never shown interest in their granddaughter before, decide to claim Jupiter as their own, blocking Jack’s family from adopting her.
And suddenly Jack’s past and present smash together, threatening to dissolve both his newfound confidence and his friendships.
This poignant, powerful companion to Orbiting Jupiter is Gary D. Schmidt at his best. He is the author of the Printz Honor and Newbery Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy; Okay for Now, a National Book Award finalist; and The Wednesday Wars, a Newbery Honor Book, among many acclaimed novels for young readers.---from the publisher
208 pages 978-0358659648 Ages 13 and up
Keywords: friendship, grief, death and dying, orphans, understanding others, track and field, boys' and mens' issues, 13 year old, 14 year old, 15 year old, main character male
*********
So, let's start out with the bare truth that not every kid out there has a fun fam that is cheering for them and going to have a great fam BBQ this afternoon. For the concrete readers that means not everyone grows up in a safe family where they are respected, included and loved just for being who they are.
Hurd is in pain. He is grieving the loss of his "brother" and he is holding on tight to the little girl named, Jupiter, who is his lost brother's daughter. Hurd's adoptive parents are holding on too.
Okay, so where will this story take us. It's going to start out with a track coach who decides Hurd should get himself into good shape and try out for the track team. So, he sends another student, Jay Perkins, super star runner, and 2 others guys who are barely human beings to run with Hurd every afternoon after school.
This running involves some bullying and a fair amount of throwing up on Hurd's part.
Hard times for Hurd. But you know, it's the people we love who hold the power to hurt us the most and the deepest. Hurd's family is about to get the phone call that will inform them that Jupiter's grandparents have decided they want to raise Jupiter and they are going to take Jupiter to their home. Hurd and his parents will not be the ones to raise Jupiter in their home any more.
Folks, you have to be a tough cookie to read this one. Because sure the story about Jupiter being adopted away from Hurd and his parents is hard but it's the rest of the story that will build that pile of tissues by your chair.
Children get hurt way down inside. They don't understand why. They stop believing that the world is a good place filled with good people and the last people they expect to be good people are the teachers that hold power over them in middle school.
Well, that genius, that man with the aching heart, that man who understands that male people hurt just as deeply as other human beings, that man... well he has dug deep and shared the pathway of pain - shown us what it feels like inside. He's the best at this across the decades of folks writing for hurt kids.
I recommend this healing journey story to you with all my hope that it will deliver you to a new place in your world where you can love and be loved and where you can finally let that hurt little one who lives in the darkness in you cry and sob and let that deep pain out of you.
Let it go. Go see the world with Hurd. What is really out there waiting for him? Is there truly fairness and justice? Where do we find the good stuff that we all need to make a great life for ourselves?
Gary Schmidt has a plan for you. It's a great one.
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
