Publication Date: 1999
Reading Level: Lexile Measure 950L, Scholastic Guided Reading Level U
Interest Level: Grades 3 - 8
Major Awards: 2000 Newbery Medal, 2000 Coretta Scott King Award for Authors
Number of Pages: 245 pages
Approximate Word Count: 45,530 words
Audible Book Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
Book Themes: Family and Home, Hope, Perseverance, Proverty, Effects of Racism, Lies and Deceit, Compassion and Forgiveness
Genre: historical fiction novel for young adults
Setting: Flint and Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1936
Important Quote:
...that was Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things to Have a Funner LIfe and Make a Better Liar Out of Yourself Number 83...If a Adult Tells You Not to Worry, and You Weren't Worried Before, You Better Hurry Up and Start 'Cause You're Already Running Late.
First Line: HERE WE GO AGAIN. We were all standing in line waiting for breakfast
when one of the caseworkers came in and tap-tap-tapped down the line. Uh-oh,
this meant bad news, either they'd found a foster home for somebody or
somebody was about to get paddled. All the kids watched the woman as she
moved along the line, her high-heeled shoes sounding like little fire- crackers
going off on the wooden floor.
Point of View: First Person (Central) Narrator: Bud
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