ISBN: 9780547152608
| Release Date: April 5, 2011 | ||
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| Grade: A+ Recommended for: anyone who is a fan of YA lit, anyone who follows the Newbery awards, fans of The Wednesday Wars. Doug Swieteck is a bummed out 8th grader whose family is uprooted from Long Island to a small town near the Catskills after his father is fired from his job in 1968. Doug is the youngest of 3 boys, his eldest brother Lucas is serving in Vietnam and his other brother Chris is full of anger and quite the bully. Doug's dad is a jerk, plain and simple, as he rules the house with his fists - the same fists that got him fired from his Long Island job. Doug's mom tries her best but cannot control the violent temper of her husband. Doug meets Lil Spicer, the daughter of the town's deli owner and the two become good friends. Since the teachers at school think of Doug as a thug thanks to his brother's alleged shenanigans, Doug finds solace in the town's library where he finds Audobon's book of birds. Lucas returns from Vietnam with his face and eyes burned and his legs amputated at the knees and dad and his sidekick Ernie Eco wreck havoc on the town. What unravels at the end proves how despicable Doug's dad and Ernie Eco are and will have you thanking you lucky stars that you (hopefully) didn't have a dad like Doug's. Okay For Now is a touching coming of age story with heart and those who have read The Wednesday Wars will recognize a few characters. Obviously from my rating I loved this book. The cover is fantastic and I fully admit to judging books by their covers. The cover sets the tone for Doug's attitude throughout most of the story. From the start the book captured my attention and it never dwindled. The Audobon bird plates were expertly woven into the story and added so much emotion. If ever there was a book deserving of a Newbery award, Okay For Now is that book. Gary Schmidt is a wonderful YA writer who makes you forget that you're reading a YA book. He transports the reader into their childhood with themes that are easily identifiable. Even if you were not around in the 60s, there are common themes in the war in Iraq that generate almost as much contempt as Vietnam. At some point most of us have felt like an outsider and could easily see ourselves in Doug's shoes. There is just the right amount of humor and sadness and eccentric characters to keep the reader turning pages at a voracious pace. There is not one other YA title that I would recommend nearly as much as Okay For Now. Do yourself a favor and get a copy of this book, it's a must read and I dare you to come up with a better YA title for 2011. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers and Clarion Books for my advance read of Okay For Now which is sure to be a Newbery winner. Read an excerpt for yourselves here. | ||
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