This audiobook won the 2012 Odyssey Award, which means it's one darn good produced audiobook. I was thrilled when I received a copy for attending the Odyssey Award program in Anaheim last June, and can't wait to get some students to listen this Fall.
This book is disgusting. Gross. Yucky. The kind of audiobook where you do NOT want to be eating in your car because you might throw up. Seriously. And I don't have a weak stomach. I found myself thinking of Roach's Stiff--so many details about decomposing bodies, cadavers and corpses (including the difference between the two), and odors/fluids/colors. Ewwww.
But I should get back to the plot. Poor Joey's mom dies, leaving him to live with his absent father in Iowa. Thanks to a pretty (but incompetent) social worker, a cruel science teacher, and mean farm kids, Joey's life is horrible. He's bullied and ostracized, but it doesn't help that he doesn't take showers, has no food in the house/shack, and has a garbageman for a father.
Without giving away too many details, I'll tell you that Joey's life takes a turn for the worst--every time it's possible. But in with the dreariness and hopelessness comes redemption and hope. Thank God, because I wasn't sure how this book was going to turn out. The dark part of me was hoping for a YA title where there ISN'T the light at the end of the tunnel, but I guess that would freak out too many adults. :)
Thanks, Mr. Kraus, for writing a book for some of the teens in my school. This will gross them out and make them look at me with new respect!
FYI--Kirby Heyborne, the reader of this book, is a newly minted librarian idol. He won us over during the Odyssey presentation with his acting, grace, cuteness, and song. See his blog for the YouTube video of his song, pics, and other details about his encounter with thousands of librarians.
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