Schmidt, Gary D. Okay for Now.

Schmidt, Gary D.  Okay for Now      

 Clarion see Houghton Mifflin  2011  360   16.99 978-0-547-15260-8 

 ms/hs E-BN  Realistic Fiction      

Three brothers, all abused, navigate their way through trials of growing up in turbulent times, the 60s.  One withdraws, another uses his wits to survive and a final, oldest son, returns from Vietnam spiritually and physically wounded.         You will feel every emotion that exists while reading this book.  When Christopher lifts his older brother gently into his wheelchair when Lucas returns from Vietnam without legs, you will cry.  When the principal verbally assaults Douglas by telling him that every teacher in school does not give a rip about him, you will be angry.  When the gym teacher makes Doug remove his shirt for gym class, revealing a tattoo that his father forced on him, and embarrassing Doug beyond imagination, you will cringe.  When Doug’s father beats Doug and his brother regularly, you will resent him, and when the warm moments melt in between the abusive ones, you will smile.  Only Gary Schmidt can do this to a reader.  His language is poetic, his descriptions of a meal are delicious, and his storytelling ability is sublime.  Doug is the storyteller, and he is quirky, fast-witted and believable.  He lives to outsmart his brother Chris and to hide his pain from the world around him.  He is an artist, a baseball trivia giant, a friend and a boyfriend, and as he tells his story, the reader becomes his friend.  Famous birds from Audubon’s Birds of America help him to tell his story, and as Doug learns to draw each bird, the birds come alive.  Simply stated, Schmidt has a book that you will want to read from cover to cover in one night.  It is a reading teacher’s delight, especially since Doug managed to get through school illiterate, until the year a teacher discovered that Doug couldn’t read and did something about it.  What a message for struggling students everywhere!  Someone cares.  Schmidt knows children and what they want to read.  Abused children and resilience is a powerful combination.    Martha Squaresky