Hartley Staples is not related to the famous Staples who own a chain of Office Supply stores. Hartely comes from a fairly regular family - mum, dad, older brother, older sister and little brother except right now his family is incomplete. His brother Jackson has left, disappeared, run away. No one thinks he is dead but the grief in the family is terrible and Hartley feels it quite acutely because he has a high level of emotional intelligence. His older sister Heather, twin to Jackson, has withdrawn into herself and seems constantly angry especially with Hartley and younger brother George seems too young to really understand. Mum and Dad are trying to be normal but there is a deep sadness hanging over everything they try to do.
While visiting the quirky town library, Hartley finds a strange homemade postcard. Over the coming days he finds more of them in strange places. They have the initials G.O. and he realises they are numbered. His collection contains 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. But who is making these interesting and poetic cards and why.
"It was the size and shape of a postcard, or maybe one of those recipe cards that people used to use before it was possible just to google "tuna casserole'. On the card were pictures and words that made up a kind of collage. It wasn't the original, with the pieces stuck down, but a photocopy maybe."
"Another card. It was sticking out from between two cereal boxes. I could even see the g.o. in the corner. I mean, how likely was it that two people with the same initials were leaving cards around Whirton?"
"It felt good to have found another one, really good. But I still wanted to know something about g.o. I knew she was a teenage girl who lived around here. That meant she went to high school. The same high school as my sister Heather. Maybe Heather knew who g.o. was."
Adding to Hartley's problems, his teacher has set her famous end of middle school special interest project and Hartley has no idea what to talk about and since Jackson left his best friend Zack no longer talks to him. Hartley feels utterly rejected and confused.
In alternate chapters we meet Gretchen Oyster. She also has a complex life split between her father who has been injured in a work accident and is now in a wheelchair and her mum who left the family many years ago. Gretchen is also plagued by three dreadful bullies at school who taunt her about her Asian heritage and adoption.
Somehow these two wounded kids need to meet not to provide some sort of fairy tale ending but just because it is clear there are ways they can help each other.
Did you see my five stars? This means you need to rush out and buy this book, read it, add it to your own book collection and then pick up another copy for your school library and put this book into the hands of your readers aged 10+. This is my book of the year for upper Primary. Read a generous extract here. I love the cover by Felicita Sala.
Cary Fagan has written award-winning books for both adults and children. Cary has won the City of Toronto Book Award, the Jewish Book Committee Prize for Fiction and the Mr. Christie Silver Medal. His numerous kids’ books include Mort Ziff Is Not Dead, the Kaspar Snit novels, the Wolfie & Fly chapter books and the picture books King Mouse, Bear Wants to Sing, What Are You Doing, Benny? and Little Blue Chair. Mr. Zinger’s Hat, another of his picture books, was awarded the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the IODE Jean Throop Award. He also won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People for his body of work. In addition to his books for children, Cary is the author of six novels and three story collections for adults. He was born and raised in Toronto, where he continues to live with his family. Penguin Random House
I would pair this book with Bird by Crystal Chan:
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