Friday, April 20, 2012

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt

genre: middle grade

What to know what can make you feel like a chump?

Move to a new stupid tiny town with your stupid older brother.

Have a father that really doesn't care about anyone but himself, I'm not kidding.

Go to a new stupid junior high where you know you aren't even going to ever be happy.

Any thoughts on how to fix THAT situation?  Doug Swieteck has no ideas, except, somehow amazing things keep creeping up on him.  Like that girl, Lil, who somehow makes me want to stretch, just a little bit.  And the crazy job he gets and some really incredible pictures which probably don't mean anything.  But maybe they do.  Maybe they sort-of mean everything.

That is the end of what I am telling you.  This is a book that I finished with tears in my eyes, nearly trembling from the power and beauty of it.   I do not know what magic pills Gary Schmidt is taking to make him write such amazing books about young teenaged boys, but I'm so glad he found them.  Because I have yet to read a writer that makes me feel so deeply about a person so very different on the outside from my own self - but on the inside, Schmidt has shown me that we really are very much the same.  We want to be in a happy family.  We went to have people that care about us.  We want to find purpose in beautiful things and know that maybe we might be able to make a difference in this world somehow.

Schmidt finishes his novels letting us believe, just a little bit more, that we've got more to offer than we think we did.  And that's sorta magical.

note: if you're interested in the content of the books I read, please go to http://ratedreads.com

4 comments:

Gerbera Daisy Diaries said...

Close to perfect. Amen.

bermudaonion said...

I loved this book too.

melissa @ 1lbr said...

My heart does a little happy dance every time someone else reads and loves this book :)

Unknown said...

I LOVED this book. I finished it about 2 months ago and I am still thinking about it.
http://inthekitchenandonthecouch.blogspot.com/

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