Description

When Jack's P.E. coach pairs him up with Jay Perkins for the cross-country team, neither of them is happy about it. Jack is grieving the loss of Joseph, his foster brother, and adjusting to his role as big brother to Jupiter, Joseph’s orphaned daughter. Dealing with Jay Perkins—who'd once ganged up with his buddies to jump Joseph in the locker room—is the last thing he wants to do.

But then Jack realizes that Jay is grieving too—the loss of his cousin Maddie, Jupiter’s mom.

As Jack's relationships with both Jay and Jupiter grow and his running improves, he starts to feel more like himself than he has since Joseph died. He's finding his stride . . . until Maddie’s parents, who have never shown interest in their granddaughter before, decide to claim Jupiter as their own, blocking Jack’s family from adopting her.

And suddenly Jack’s past and present smash together, threatening to dissolve both his newfound confidence and his friendships.

This poignant, powerful companion to Orbiting Jupiter is Gary D. Schmidt at his best. He is the author of the Printz Honor and Newbery Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy; Okay for Now, a National Book Award finalist; and The Wednesday Wars, a Newbery Honor Book, among many acclaimed novels for young readers.

About the Author

Gary D. Schmidt is the bestselling author of The Labors of Hercules Beal; Just Like That; National Book Award finalist Okay for Now; Pay Attention, Carter Jones; Orbiting Jupiter; the Newbery Honor and Printz Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy; and the Newbery Honor Book The Wednesday Wars. He is also contributor to and co-editor of the acclaimed short story collection A Little Bit Super, co-edited by Leah Henderson. He lives in rural Michigan.

Praise For…

(Orbiting Jupiter) "Schmidt writes with an elegant simplicity in this paean to the power of love...Readers will not soon forget either Joseph Brook or this spare novel written with love and grace."  — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

(Orbiting Jupiter) "Told in Jack's spare, direct first-person voice, this story's style demonstrates the beautify of simplicity as it delineates the lives of its characters, each as superbly realized as the tumultuous New England setting." — Booklist (starred review)

(Orbiting Jupiter) "The matter-of-fact narrative voice ensures that the tragic plot never overhwlms this wrenching tale of growth and loss." — School Library Journal (starred review)

(Orbiting Jupiter) "A powerful story about second chances, all the more devastating because not everyone gets one." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)