“Squeeze the orange” of life
YOLO - You only live once
Oscar Aberdeen lives with his grandfather. You are sure to have read about kids in life circumstances like this in previous books. But in this story his grandfather lives in a retirement community called Sunny Days and it is filled with other senior citizens. Oscar has lived there for many years and so he has formed brilliant relationships with many of the residents. His 'normal' life means he joins in with all the seniors' activities from morning teas, to crafting and card playing. Retirement villages and aged care homes always seem to have almost insulting names like Sunny Days because while yes, these people might enjoy some sunny days all of us are destined to end our life journey eventually. In fact, Oscar is a bit of an expert when it comes to funerals and as this story opens that is where we find him - at the funeral of Mr Howell. This is the 49th funeral Oscar has attended. The big problem is Mr Howell has been running Sunny Days Retirement Community and because he has died it will now be taken over by his son. Again, you have probably guessed this will mean BIG changes for the community and the most serious change is a huge hike in the weekly fee. Oscar's grandfather only just gets by on his meagre pension so there is no way he can pay this. Will Oscar and his grandfather have to move away?
One resident that no one really interacts with is Jimmy Deluca. He is loud, he is always swearing, he smokes hideous cigars and drinks (a lot) but he now needs Oscar to help him and in return he offers Oscar a huge amount of money which might mean Oscar and his grandfather can keep their home.
Jimmy has a 'bucket list' of things he needs to achieve. He owns an amazing car(you can see it on the cover of the book) but he needs help to escape from Sunny Days because he is classified as 'monitored and restricted' which means if he goes out through the main building front door alarms will alert the staff.
Oscar along with Natasha (daughter of the new Sunny Days owner) hatch a plan to break Jimmy out of Sunny Days but Oscar has no idea that he will be pulled into a totally wild adventure involving gangsters, cigars, Jimmy's hairless cat Mr Buttercup, breaking into the backyard of a suburban house, playing poker with dangerously high stakes, leaving a restaurant without paying (this is mortifying for Oscar), and even buying a bra!
Here are a couple of text quotes:
"I was in a heckuva pickle. I didn't want to smuggle known lowlife Jimmy Deluca out the door, in plain view of the cameras. Get busted, get in huge trouble, disappoint Pops and all my Sunny Days family. Law-breaking troublemaker? That wasn't me."
"I let out a low whistle. Jimmy Deluca's car was ... well, it was a beaut. A gem. An absolute humdinger. It was baby blue, with a cream coloured top. It had chrome. It had curves. It had white-walled tires. It had style. It was like one of those cars you'd see in a parade, or at a classic car show or something. Yeah, I was impressed."
"I broke Jimmy the Wrench our of a secure facility. Ran out on a restaurant bill. Got punched by a sleazeball. Puked up an entire ravioli dinner. Trespassed on private property. Lied to my grandpa. Got clawed by a hairless cat. Stole a car. Even bought a bra. ... Oh I'm currently wanted by the police."
This book will make you laugh (I laughed a lot); and you will marvel at the clever plot twists which bring together pieces of Oscar's life experiences; and then Dan Gemeinhart will, yes you might have guess this, he will make you cry. This is also one of those 'time is ticking' stories because the next time staff is due to check on Jimmy is 6.30pm so they only have around four hours to complete Jimmy's list. Speaking of lists - I highly recommend you add this book to your 'to read list' and also to your school library. It will be enjoyed by readers aged 10+.
Read the blurb on the publisher page. Listen to an
audio book sample.
This story is also truly FUNNY. I cannot overstate that fact. Finding humorous middle grade books that don’t feature wacky or slapstick humor can be challenging, and sometimes readers just want a different kind of funny. I laughed (out loud) so many times throughout this book and I know kids will be giggling along as they read, too. Reading Middle Grade
Companion books:
I confess I should have had more faith in Dan Gemeinhart but when I saw this book in a local independent bookstore last month I did not buy it because I really didn't like the cover! I was WRONG, so wrong. Luckily, I read a few reviews because I previously loved Dan's books.
I was visiting a small country town in southwestern NSW and I spied Busted on the shelf in their very well stocked newsagent and so as you have guessed I grabbed it AND I read the whole book in one afternoon over Christmas.
I have been trying to remember a book I read with a boy who also lived in an aged care or retirement home and the residents all taught him different skills but then the school authorities demanded that the boy go to school, and this is a very complex situation for the boy. (This might be the Gordon Korman book I shared above).
Here are few other titles I am going to look for that might link well with Busted:
