Okay For Now
Author:
Gary D. Schmidt
Publication:
2011 by Clarion Books
Genre:
Fiction
Pages:
368
Current state:
This book has been evaluated and information added. It has been read and any content considerations have been added.
Book Guide
"The Dump" is what Doug Swieteck calls his new home in upstate New York. He lands there in the summer of 1968, when the Apollo space missions are under way, Joe Pepitone is slugging for the New York Yankees, and the Vietnam War is raging. At home he lives with a father who has lost his way and a brother accused of robbery. And Doug's oldest brother is returning from Vietnam. Who knows what wounds his missions have given him?
But Doug has his own mission, too, and it begins when he first sees the plates of John James Audubon's Birds of America at the local library. His mission will lead him to Lil Spicer, who shows him how to drink a really cold Coke, to Mrs. Windermere, who drags him to a theater opening, and to the customers of his Saturday grocery deliveries, who together will open a world as strange to him as the lunar landscape.
Swieteck, who first appeared in Gary D. Schmidt's Newbery Honor book The Wednesday Wars, will discover the transforming power of art over disaster in a story about creativity and loss, love and recovery, and survival.
From the dust jacket
To view an example page please sign in.
Gary D. Schmidt
1957 -American
Gary D. Schmidt is a professor of English at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has written books about authors Katherine Paterson and Rob... See more
Please sign in for audiobook information.
Content Guide
Please sign in to access all of the topics associated with this book and view other books with the same topics.
Please sign in to access the locations this book takes place in and view other books in the same location.
Please sign in to access the time periods this book takes place in and view other books in the same time period.
For information about the lead characters please sign in.
Please sign in to access information about the content of this book that you may want to consider before reading.
Resource Guide
Podcast
Okay for Now
Released in 2023 by Plumfield Moms Podcast
Available formats: Streaming Audio
Length: 1 hr. 23 min.
View on the Plumfield Moms Podcast site
Reviews
Newbery Boy Appeal
Reviewed by Sherry Early
So, how to describe this novel? It’s got: drawing lessons, juvenile delinquency, child abuse, Jane Eyre, junior high school angst, libraries, literacy training, John James Audubon, returning Vietnam soldiers, baseball stats, Apollo rockets, ice cream and Coca Cola, horseshoes, Percy Bysshe Shelley-hatred, a cranky playwright, redemption, hope and change. Oh, and my favorite actor, Jimmy Stewart, makes a non-speaking cameo appearance. What more could you ask?
Okay for Now
Reviewed by Diane Pendergraft
Of Schmidt’s three companion books, The Wednesday Wars, Okay for Now, and Just Like That, I think Okay for Now is the richest. The characters are full and believable and Doug’s growth over the school year is substantial. Doug finds himself surrounded by caring adults who see the best in him and mentor him through hard times.
Okay For Now
When Dad loses his job, almost-eighth-grader Doug Swieteck and his family move upstate to Marysville, New York...
Okay For Now
Parents need to know that this novel, set in 1968, deals with parental alcoholism, domestic violence, bullying, disrespecting teachers, petty crimes, and poverty...
Okay For Now
It’s 1968. The Vietnam War and Apollo 11 are in the background, and between a war in a distant land and a spacecraft heading to the moon, Doug Swieteck starts ...
Please sign in to read Biblioguides Team reviews.
Find This Book
