The Fault in Our Stars

Green, John. 2012. The Fault in Our Stars. New York, NY: Dutton Books. ISBN 9781101569184

Brief Plot Summary: 

 

Hazel is a teen suffering from cancer.  Her condition is terminal but she is functioning well when she meets Augustus, a cancer survivor, at a teen cancer support group.  She and Augustus quickly form a bond and pursue a relationship; both realizing that time is not something that is guaranteed. 

 

Critical analysis:

 I don’t think I can say enough positive things about this excellent book.  The characters were outstanding.  The dialogue clearly illustrated the emotional growth reflected in the story.  The characters were more emotionally mature than most teens that age, due to their circumstances, so the dialogue may not reflect the typical teen slang but it was both intelligent and witty, lacking excess words or descriptions (“I went to support group for the same reason that I’d once allowed nurses with a mere eighteen months of graduate education to poison me with exotically named chemicals:  I wanted to make my parents happy.  There is only one thing in this world shittier than biting it from cancer when you’re sixteen, and that’s having a kid who bites it from cancer”).

 At first glance, the fact that Hazel and Augustus manage to travel across the globe together may seem implausible but once readers realize that the Make a Wish Foundation really does grant such wishes, it will make sense.  The story is fresh, original, and unexpectedly witty, given its subject matter.  Readers will remain hopeful, up to the inevitable conclusion and they will not stop rooting for these characters.

The contemporary setting is illustrated by the video games, cell phones, and cultural references throughout the book but the references are generic enough that it will not feel dated any time soon.  The themes of hope and perseverance will be familiar to young readers and there is no obvious moralizing in this story.  In fact, I am hopeful that readers can see how it’s important to be non-judgmental because you never know what someone is going through in life.

 John Green’s writing style is straightforward and conversational, yet witty and intelligent.  There writing is heavy on dialogue but it is so entertaining that readers won’t mind.  The main protagonist, Hazel, is female but Augustus (male) is a major character so both genders are adequately represented, enhancing the story’s appeal to all readers. 

 

Awards won: 

 #1 New York Times bestseller
#1 Wall Street Journal bestseller
#9 The Bookseller (UK) bestseller
#1 Indiebound bestseller
New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
Starred reviews from Booklist, SLJ, Publisher’s Weekly, Horn Book, and Kirkus

 

Review Excerpts:

Kirkus Reviews

Sparks fly when Hazel Grace Lancaster spies Augustus "Gus" Waters checking her out across the room in a group-therapy session for teens living with cancer. He's a gorgeous, confident, intelligent amputee who always loses video games because he tries to save everyone. She's smart, snarky and 16; she goes to community college and jokingly calls Peter Van Houten, the author of her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, her only friend besides her parents. He asks her over, and they swap novels. He agrees to read the Van Houten and she agrees to read his-based on his favorite bloodbath-filled video game. The two become connected at the hip, and what follows is a smartly crafted intellectual explosion of a romance. From their trip to Amsterdam to meet the reclusive Van Houten to their hilariously flirty repartee, readers will swoon on nearly every page. Green's signature style shines: His carefully structured dialogue and razor-sharp characters brim with genuine intellect, humor and desire. He takes on Big Questions that might feel heavy-handed in the words of any other author: What do oblivion and living mean? Then he deftly parries them with humor: "My nostalgia is so extreme that I am capable of missing a swing my butt never actually touched." Dog-earing of pages will no doubt ensue.

Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues to make it through Hazel and Gus' poignant journey.

2012. "The Fault in Our Stars." Kirkus Reviews 59. Library & Information Science Source, EBSCOhost (accessed July 29, 2013).

 

School Library Journal

--"It's not fair," complains 16-year-old Hazel from Indiana. "The world," says Gus, her new friend from her teen support group, "is not a wish-granting factory." Indeed, life is not fair; Hazel and Gus both have cancer, Hazel's terminal. Despite this, she has a burning obsession: to find out what happens to the characters after the end of her favorite novel. An Imperial Affliction by Dutch author Peter Van Houten is about a girl named Anna who has cancer, and it ends in mid-sentence (presumably to indicate a life cut short), a stylistic choice that Hazel appreciates but the ambiguity drives her crazy. Did the "Dutch Tulip Man" marry Anna's mom? What happened to Sisyphus the Hamster? Hazel asks her questions via email and Van Houten responds, claiming that he can only tell her the answers in person. When she was younger, Hazel used her wish-one granted to sick children from The Genie Foundation--by going to Disney World. Gus decides to use his to take Hazel to Amsterdam to meet the author. Like most things in life, the trip doesn't go exactly as anticipated. Van Houten is a disappointment, but Hazel, who has resisted loving Gus because she doesn't want to be the grenade that explodes in his life when she dies, finally allows herself to love. Once again Green offers a well-developed cast of characters capable of both reflective thought and hilarious dialogue. With his trademark humor, lovable parents, and exploration of big-time challenges, The Fault in Our Stars is an achingly beautiful story about life and loss.

 

O'Malley, Ragan1. 2012. "The Fault in Our Stars." School Library Journal 58, no. 2: 120. Library & Information Science Source, EBSCOhost (accessed July 29, 2013).

 

Publisher’s Weekly

 If there's a knock on John Green (and it's more of a light tap considering he's been recognized twice by the Print/ committee) it's that he keeps writing the same book: nerdy guy in unrequited love with impossibly gorgeous girl, add road trip. His fourth novel departs from that successful formula to even greater success: this is his best work yet. Narrator Hazel Grace Lancaster, 16, is (miraculously) alive thanks to an experimental drug that is keeping her thyroid cancer in check. In an effort to get her to have a life (she withdrew from school at 13), her parents insist she attend a support group at a local church, which Hazel characterizes in an older-than-her-years voice as a "rotating cast of characters in various states of tumor-driven unwellness." Despite Hazel's reluctant presence, it's at the support group that she meets Augustus Waters, a former basketball player who has lost a leg to cancer. The connection is instant, and a (doomed) romance blossoms. There is a road trip--Augustus, whose greatest fear is not of death but that his life won't amount to anything, uses his "Genie Foundation" wish to take Hazel to Amsterdam to meet the author of her favorite book. Come to think of it, Augustus is pretty damn hot. So maybe there's not a new formula at work so much as a gender swap. But this iteration is smart, witty, profoundly sad, and full of questions worth asking, even those like "Why me.'" that have no answer. Ages 14-up.

2012. "The Fault in Our Stars." Publishers Weekly 259, no. 3: 57. Library & Information Science Source, EBSCOhost (accessed July 29, 2013).

 Connections:

An Okay For Now Educator’s Guide with ideas for enrichment activities can be found here:

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/literature-guide/printable/69858.html

Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians

 

Krosoczka, Jarrett J. 2009. Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780375946844

 

Brief Plot Summary: 

 

Something is not right in the library.  The librarians have become secretive and a group of students are determined to find out what they are hiding.  With the help of the Lunch Lady and her secret gadgets, they set out to uncover a plot that would threaten the entertainment of kids everywhere.

 

Critical analysis:

 It is easy to identify with the evil-fighting protagonists in Lunch Lady and the League of the Librarians. Who doesn’t want to see the crime-fighting hero with special gadgets and powers to defeat the evil teacher (in this case, librarian)?  The nature of the graphic novel allows readers to easily suspend belief and not question characters that jump out of books to fight the heroes. 

 

This ingenious plot describing a subculture of crime fighters against villains within the staff of a school is both original and creative.  The school’s setting is sure to appeal to all school-age readers, making it an integral part of the story.  The plot to steal a coveted video game will definitely resonate with boys who eagerly await the release of such games.

 

The traditional theme of good versus evil is readily apparent The satisfying ending will leave readers wanting to read more about the resourceful Lunch Lady.  The writing is clear and concise and the graphics lend the right amount of drama to the story, especially in the “fight” scenes as the book characters are unleashed by the librarians as they fight the students and Lunch Lady.

 

Awards won: 

 

WINNER 2010 - Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices

 

Review Excerpts:

 School Library Journal

 

When not serving up French fries and gravy to students, Lunch Lady escapes to her secret kitchen lair to lead the life of a crime fighter. Using an assortment of lunch-themed gadgets (created by her sidekick Betty), she is definitely a quirky superhero. Tipped off by the "Breakfast Bunch" (three students who discovered Lunch Lady's crime-fighting alter ego in Book 1), she attempts to foil the plans of the evil "League of Librarians," who seek to destroy all video games. The black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations have splashes of yellow in nearly every panel. The clean layout, featuring lots of open space, is well suited for the intended audience. Terrence, Hector, and Dee become more developed in this second installment in the series, especially Dee, who asserts herself as the strong-willed leader of the group. The winking references to book fairs, read-a-thon enrollment, and media specialists fit well with the story line. With its appealing mix of action and humor, this clever, entertaining addition to the series should have wide appeal.

 

Jonker, Travis1. 2009. "Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians." School Library Journal 55, no. 9: 188. Library & Information Science Source, EBSCOhost (accessed July 29, 2013).

 

Connections:

Other books by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

 

Lunch Lady series

Goodnight, Monkey Boy

Baghead

Platypus Police Squad:  The Frog Who Croaked

Feathers

Woodson, Jacqueline. 2007. Feathers.  New York, NY: Puffin Books. ISBN 978039923982

 

Brief Plot Summary:

 Hope is something that seems elusive to Frannie.  She wants to have it but is afraid of being disappointed.  Frannie’s thoughts are occupied by the important relationships in her life, including her brother Sean, who is deaf; her best friend, Samantha, who is focused on spiritual matters; her mother, who is pregnant; and a new boy in her class, nicknamed “Jesus Boy”.  Frannie wants to have hope that the baby her mother is carrying will be ok.  She wants to hope that Jesus Boy is, somehow, really Jesus and won’t continue to be bullied.  Does she have the courage to hope for these things and risk being disappointed? 

 

Critical analysis:

 

Feathers tells the story of a young girl named Frannie’s cautious journey into hope. Frannie’s character is portrayed as wise beyond her years, due to the sadness in her life, such as the loss of a baby sister, her observation of how her deaf brother is treated, and the fact that she wonders why life on the “other side of the highway” is different.  Jacqueline Woodson does an excellent job at showing readers Frannie’s emotional growth as she maneuvers through her relationships with her mother, her brother, and the new boy at school, “Jesus Boy”.  Frannie’s language is very believable.  Her cautious attitude toward hope is clearly portrayed in this language (“My grandmother always says that good things come in ones and twos and threes and bad things come however they can get here”).

 

The events in this story are very true to life, especially the scenes at Frannie’s school when “Jesus Boy” is taunted by Trevor.  The schoolyard dynamics showcase the bravado, fear, and embarrassment typical in these situations. While there were not any unexpected twists and turns in the story, it is likely to hold the attention of readers who are rooting for Frannie to find hope in the future.  There is no obvious moralizing within the story, even as Samantha theorizes that “Jesus Boy” is actually Jesus Christ and her faith is shared with other characters.

 

The book jacket indicates that the story is set in the early seventies but there are not a lot of cues that indicate the time period in the story.  Subtle cues, such as hairstyles, hint at the timeframe but the biggest indicator is the mention of recent desegregation and the fact that the highway divides the town by race.

 I think the theme of hope would resonate with young readers who can empathize with Frannie’s wish to see her mother happy and healthy, and to see her brother find friends who are willing to overlook the fact that he is deaf and appreciate him for his character. 

 

The writing style is natural and believable and the tone is somber throughout most of the book, with a good balance of narration and dialogue.  While the protagonist is female, the story should be equally appealing to boys as Sean and “Jesus Boy” is significant to the plot.  Young readers should find the characters and their struggles very relatable.

 

Awards won: 

 

Newbery Honor Book 2008

 

Review Excerpts:

 

School Library Journal

 

It's winter in 1971, and Frannie, a sixth-grader at a predominantly black school, doesn't know what to make of the new student in her class whose pale skin, long curly hair, and calm demeanor have everyone calling him the Jesus Boy. Told in an earthy, honest, and occasionally downright funny first-person narrative, this eminently discussable book grapples with issues of prejudice, faith, and the genesis of hope.

 

2007. "Feathers." School Library Journal 53, 49. Library & Information Science Source, EBSCOhost (accessed July 29, 2013).

 

Publisher’s Weekly

 

Looking forward" is the message that runs through Woodson's (The House Pass on the Way) novel. Narrator Frannie is fascinated with Emily Dickinson's poem, "Hope is the thing with feathers/that perches in the soul," and grapples with its meaning, especially after a white student joins Frannie's all-black sixth-grade classroom. Trevor, the classroom bully, promptly nicknames him "Jesus Boy," because he is "pale and his hair [is] long." Frannie's best friend, Samantha, a preacher's daughter, starts to believe that the new boy truly could be Jesus ("If there was a world for Jesus to need to walk back into, wouldn't this one be it?"). The Jesus Boy's sense of calm and its effect on her classmates make Frannie wonder if there is some truth to Samantha’s musings, but a climactic faceoff between him and Trevor bring the newcomer's human flaws to light. Frannie's keen perceptions allow readers to observe a ripple of changes. Because she has experienced so much sadness in her life (her brother's deafness, her mother's miscarriages) the heroine is able to see beyond it all--to look forward to a time when the pain subsides and life continues. Set in 1971, Woodson's novel skillfully weaves in the music and events surrounding the rising opposition to the Vietnam War, giving this gentle, timeless story depth. She raises important questions about God, racial segregation and issues surrounding the hearing-impaired with a light and thoughtful touch. Ages 8-up. (Mar.) Agent: Charlotte Sheedy.

 

2007. "Feathers." Publishers Weekly 254, no. 2: 51-52. Library & Information Science Source, EBSCOhost (accessed July 29, 2013).

  

 

Connections:

 

Other books by Jacqueline Woodson

 

Beneath a Meth Moon

Hush

Behind You

If You Come Softly

Miracle’s Boys

 

Similar books:

Yolanda’s Genius by Carol Fenner

Rules by Cynthia Lord

Sahara Special by Esme Raji Codell

One Crazy Summer

Williams-Garcia, Rita. 2010. One Crazy Summer. New York, NY: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060760885

Brief Plot Summary: 

One Crazy Summer is the story of three young girls who are sent to visit their estranged mother in California for a month during the civil rights movement.  The girls naively believe they will be welcomed with open arms, only to discover a disinterested mother who sends them to a “summer camp” each day run by members of the Black Panthers.  The girls navigate dangerous territory and an uncertain relationship with humor and perseverance.

Critical Analysis:

Rita Williams-Garcia has created a very believable character in Delphine, the brave main character in One Crazy Summer.  Delphine clearly portrays the characteristics you would expect from a child her age in a precarious situation:  bravado, fear, resentment, and determination.  As she and her sisters meet their estranged mother for the first time in years, readers will sympathize with her desire to please this woman who seems to care nothing about them.  The language of the characters seems appropriate for this time period and the dialect of the African-American characters seems very realistic.

The historical context of the civil rights era is only briefly described.  Young readers may not be entirely familiar with the activities of the Black Panthers and further explanation may be required in order for them to understand Delphine’s fears with regards to the group.  As such, the plot is not overwhelmed with details and focuses on the relationships between the sisters and Delphine’s efforts to connect with her mother.  The day camp and Cecile’s apartment are described in detail, as well as the girls’ adventurous trip to San Francisco.  This book does not go into too much detail about historical events so it does not appear that too much research was necessary but the facts that are presented are accurate.

The overall theme of this book seems to be acceptance, both in the civil rights activities and, especially, in the girls’ relationship with their mother.  Obviously, this theme remains relevant today and many young readers can likely relate to Delphine’s heartache.  The author does a great job of capturing the speech patterns of the children and of the haughty pride of Cecile, in an easy writing style that flows in an easy rhythm.

Awards won: 

2011 Coretta Scott King Award Winner

2011 Newbery Honor Book

2011 Scott O’Dell Prize for Historical Fiction

2010 National Book Award Finalist

Junior Library Guild Selection

Texas Library Association Best Book for 2010

Review Excerpts:

Publisher’s Weekly

Williams-Garcia (Jumped) evokes the close-knit bond between three sisters, and the fervor and tumultuousness of the late 1960s, in this period novel featuring an outspoken 11-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y. Through lively first-person narrative, readers meet Delphine, whose father sends her and her two younger sisters to Oakland, Calif., to visit their estranged mother, Cecile. When Cecile picks them up at the airport, she is as unconventional as Delphine remembers ("There was something uncommon about Cecile. Eyes glommed onto her. Tall, dark brown woman in man's pants whose face was half hidden by a scarf, hat, and big dark shades. She was like a colored movie star"). Instead of taking her children to Disneyland as they had hoped, Cecile shoos them off to the neighborhood People's Center, run by members of the Black Panthers. Delphine doesn't buy into all of the group's ideas, but she does come to understand her mother a little better over the summer. Delphine's growing awareness of injustice on a personal and universal level is smoothly woven into the story in poetic language that will stimulate and move readers.

2010. "One Crazy Summer." Publishers Weekly 257, no. 1: 47. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed July 23, 2013).

Kirkus Reviews

A flight from New York to Oakland, Calif., to spend the summer of 1968 with the mother who abandoned Delphine and her three sisters was the easy part. Once there, the negative things their grandmother had said about their mother, Cecile, seem true: She is uninterested in her daughters and secretive about her work and the mysterious men in black berets who visit. The sisters are sent off to a Black Panther day camp, where Delphine finds herself skeptical of the worldview of the militants while making the best of their situation. Delphine is the pitch-perfect older sister, wise beyond her years, an expert at handling her siblings: "Just like I know how to lift my sisters up, I also knew how to needle them just fight." Each girl has a distinct response to her motherless state, and Williams-Garcia provides details that make each characterization crystal clear. The depiction of the time is well done, and while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilience is celebrated and energetically told with writing that snaps off the page.

2010. "One Crazy Summer." Kirkus Reviews 78, no. 2: 91. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed July 23, 2013).

Connections:

Other books by Rita Williams-Garcia:

Blue Tights

Every Time a Rainbow Dies

Fast Talk on a Slow Track

Jumped

Like Sisters on the Homefront

No Laughter Here

Enrichment Activities:

From the Sweet on Books blog, I found some great discussion questions related to this book:

http://www.sweetonbooks.com/all-titles/559-one-crazy-summer.html

 

• What do you think of Pa forcing the girls to go to California?
• Do you think it was a good idea in the beginning? Did your view of that change by the end of the girls' story?
• Of the three sisters, Delphine, Vonetta and Fern, whom did you most relate to? Why?
• Do you think Cecile was horrible? Did she have any reasons to behave the way she was behaving?
• Do you think the girls got an education in Oakland they otherwise would not have gotten in Brooklyn? Why    or why not?
• How do you think each sister changed during their four weeks abroad?
• What do you think happened when they got back to Brooklyn? Do you think they were different?
• Do you think they saw Cecile again? Why do you think they would or wouldn't want to see her again?
• How did the final scene in the airport affect you? Did it change your opinion of Cecile?
• What kind of a mother was Cecile? Did you like her?
• Do you think she should have left her daughter's and gone away? Why? Why not?
• How do you think the children felt?

Okay for Now

Schmidt, Gary D. 2011. Okay for Now. New York, NY: Clarion Books. ISBN 9780547152608

Brief Plot Summary: 

Okay for Now is a story about a boy named Doug Swieteck who moves, with his family, to upstate New York in the summer of 1968.  In addition to normal teenage angst, Doug also faces an abusive father and a conniving brother.  In his new town, he discovers a few surprises, including a girl named Lil, a previously undiscovered artistic talent, and a few attentive, quirky mentors who nicely round out the sweet cast of characters.

Critical analysis:

Gary D. Schmidt has created an outstanding cast of relatable characters.  The main character of Doug Swieteck is funny, sweet, endearing, witty, vulnerable, and strong.  Young adults will root for Doug as he struggles with bullies (including a teacher), an abusive father, a brother whose reputation has negative repercussions for Doug, and as he navigates through the discovery of new talents and his first crush.  Adults will be smitten with Doug, as well.  He is smart, witty, and the underdog.  The characters are completely believable and readers who weren’t around for the late 1960s will feel as if they are there, especially in the Swieteck home, where Doug’s mom always has a smile on her face and works hard to calm the waters when Doug’s father arrives home from work.

Many historical events are presented accurately, including the Vietnam War and protests, the first Lunar Landing, and several events in major league baseball.  These events are not overwhelmed by details or political views and young adult readers may be so entertained that they don’t realize they are learning about historical events.  

The setting is vividly described as readers can sense the borderline poverty of the Swieteck home from the broken dishes that don’t get replaced to the excitement over free plants given to Doug’s mother to start a garden.  Maryville, a small town in upstate New York, is presented as a quaint town, small enough that Doug quickly learns his grocery delivery route customers and, certainly, small enough for his brother’s “crimes” to affect his reputation at school.  

The adult themes of abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder are treated gently as Doug interacts with his father and oldest brother, who returns from the Vietnam War blind and missing his legs.  The themes of redemption and triumph over adversity, again in Doug’s father and brother, are evident and neatly wrapped up at the end of the book.  The author’s writing style eloquently captures the speech patterns of the 1960s.  Doug’s constant declaration, “I’m not even lying” and the frequent use of the word “chump” evoke memories of characters from Happy Days and Leave it to Beaver.  Doug’s constant comments to the reader such as “if you were listening back there, you’d know why” or “as you might remember” serve to create a personal connection between Doug and the reader and make the story all the more endearing.  

 The historical context of the book appears to be thoroughly researched and events are neatly included in history and physical science lessons for Doug and his classmates.  The characters do not seem to be stereotyped.  In fact, Doug’s artistic talents and passion for the Audubon birds seem to go against most stereotypical, self-absorbed teen characters.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book more than any other book that I have read this semester.  I will enthusiastically recommend it to adults and young adults.

Awards won: 

National Book Award Finalist

Review Excerpts:

Library Media Connection

It's the summer of 1968 and Doug Swieteck has just moved to Marysville, New York. His father is a mean drunk, his older brother seems to be a juvenile delinquent, and his mother is just trying to hold the family together. Before the summer ends, Doug has a friend (Lil), an obsession (the work of John James Audubon), and a job (delivering groceries). Over the course of the school year, Doug begins to change from a wary, closed boy into an open, engaged young man, despite the challenges he faces. He finds a teacher who understands him, begins to spend time in the local library drawing Audubon's birds, and, in the book's most unlikely twist, winds up on a Broadway stage. He witnesses his family's transformation with the return of his oldest brother from Vietnam. The book closes on a bittersweet note, with hope tempering a character's serious illness; but a really happy ending would have felt out of place. There are laugh-out-loud moments here, and passages that will move a reader to tears; it's brilliant, and beautiful, and very nearly a perfect book.

Poulter, Susan A. M. 2011. “Okay for Now.” Library Media Connection 30, no. 1: 78. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed July 22, 2013).

School Library Journal

 When his blowhard dad loses his job, Doug Swieteck has to say so long to his friend Holling and Camillo Junior High and get used to things in stupid Marysville, NY. His oldest brother's in Vietnam, his middle brother's still a hoodlum, his mom is quiet but enduring, and his only salvation is weekly visits to the public library, where the librarian is teaching him to draw by using models from a volume of Audubon's Birds of America. Also not too bad is Lil, the daughter of the grocer who gives him a delivery job. Fans of The Wednesday Wars (Clarion, 2007) will find that this companion novel has more in common with it than just a charismatic narrator and pitch-perfect details of daily life in the 1960s. In addition to a mix of caring adults and comically unreasonable authority figures, Schmidt also revisits baseball, theatrical escapades, and timely preoccupations like the Moon landing and the Vietnam War. But Doug's blue-collar story is much darker than Holling's in the earlier novel, and, as a narrator, he's more psychologically complex. Readers know right up front that his father is abusive, but for a while Doug keeps the depth and magnitude--among other secrets--hidden from those around him. He grows to realize a lot about his family's relationships through study of Audubon's painted birds (one plate is featured at the start of each chapter), and the volume itself becomes a metaphor for his journey from fragmented to whole self. Schmidt manages a hard balance of relatable youth-is-hard humor and nuanced family trauma, though the mix of antics and realism is a bit Shakespearean. Readers will miss Doug and his world when they're done, and will feel richer for having experienced his engaging, tough, and endearing story.

Pollard, Riva. 2011. “Okay for Now.” School Library Journal 57, no. 4: 184. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed July 22, 2013).

Publisher’s Weekly

  

This companion to The Wednesday Wars follows the formula of Schmidt's Newbery Honor winner with less success. Doug Swieteck, a prankster in the previous book, has graver problems than Holling Hoodhood did, making the interplay of pathos and slapstick humor an uneasy fit. In summer 1968, the Swietecks leave Long Island for the Catskills, where Doug's father has found work. Doug's mother (like Holling's) is kind but ineffectual; Mr. Swieteck is a brutish jerk. His abuse of his three sons, one of whom is currently in Vietnam, happens mostly offstage, but one episode of unthinkable cruelty is recounted as a flashback to explain why Doug refuses to take off his shirt in gym class. Doug does make two key friends: Lil, whose father owns the dell for which Doug becomes delivery boy, and the less fleshed-out Mr. Powell, a librarian who instantly sees Doug's potential as an artist. There are lovely moments, but the late addition of an implausible subplot in which Lil, who has never shown an interest in acting, is drafted for a role in a Broadway play, seems desultory considering the story's weightier elements.

2011. “Okay for Now.” Publishers Weekly 258, no. 8: 134. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed July 22, 2013).

Connections:

Other books by Gary D. Schmidt:

The Wednesday Wars

Trouble

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

What Came From the Stars

Enrichment Activities:

Houghton Mifflin has a great website full of discussion questions and enrichment activities related to this book:

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/kids/resources/OkayForNow_educatorsguide.pdf