Inside the front cover of this book there are seventeen powerful endorsements for this book. Here are a few:
"Schmidt writes with an elegant simplicity in this paean to the power of love" Kirkus Star review
"The poetic and uncluttered prose of this short beautiful novel resonates for a long time" Book Trust
"This is a phenomenal book. One of the best-crafted, most heartrending novels I've read this year ... the prose is stark, impeccable, faultless" Minerva Reads
Jack's parents agree to foster a young boy called Joseph Brook. Jack is in Grade Six and Joseph is in Grade Eight. Jack lives on a dairy farm in Maine and right from the start his parents expect Joseph to assist with the milking - morning and night. Terrible, terrible, terrible things have happened to Joseph but his healing begins when he forms a relationship with a very special cow called Rosie.
In chapter one we discover some of Joseph's story but as his trust in his new family develops we discover so much more - filling out these brief facts:
- Joseph has been in Juvenile detention.
- Something bad happened there and one of the other kids gave him some powerful drugs and Joseph had a very violent reaction against one of the staff - trying to kill her.
- As a result of this Joseph was sent to jail - to a place called Stone Mountain.
"He won't talk about what happened to him there. But since he left Stone Mountain, he won't wear anything orange. He won't let anyone stand behind him. He won't let anyone touch him. He won't go into rooms that are too small. And he won't eat canned peaches. ... (and) he has a daughter."
"He looked like a regular eighth-grade kid at Eastham Middle School. Black eyes, black hair almost over his eyes, a little less than middle for height, a little less than middle for weight, sort of middle for everything else."
Jack and Joseph share a room. Jack is only twelve but he shows enormous wisdom in the way he treats and talks to Joseph. I loved the gentle unfolding of their relationship.
Read more plot details in the review by The Book Bag.
There are scenes that will linger forever with me from this book. I love Jack and his family, I want to thank the social worker for all her efforts to help Joseph and huge thanks to Gary D Schmidt who has written a tragic story but one with so much hope for a better future for little Jupiter - Joseph's daughter. I'm also cheering for the wonderful teachers - the maths teacher, the PE teacher and the English teacher.
"Mrs Halloway in language arts was calling on him a lot - I think because she saw him reading Walden. She asked him if he liked it and he said he'd already read it once and he was reading it again, and she asked if he had read her favourite Thoreau book, A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, and he said 'A Week on the what?' and she took him to the library and they checked it out together. You know how teachers are. If they get you to take a book they love, they're yours for life."
I started this book on my train journey this morning and devoured 60 pages of the 182 then on the return journey I finished the whole book which was wonderful but I was crying on the bus - luckily it was fairly empty. Some months ago I compiled a list of books that made readers cry - I can see Orbiting Jupiter is already on that list suggested by one of the people who joined that Facebook thread.
This is a YA novel and I would say it is for ages 13+. I picked this book up at a recent charity book sale. It was first published in 2015. If you can't find a print copy there is an ebook version and an audio book version.
I previously LOVED The Wednesday Wars by Gary D Schmidt:
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