Ware wants to be born again. This time, he wants to be a child that his parents could love, a normal child.
Ware’s mom had been president of her class, and his dad had been a sports star. They despaired of their introverted and dreamy eleven-year-old. Ware imagined being a knight, so that he could be brave and admired. He even kept a long list of the duties and goals of knighthood.
At the beginning of the summer, his parents decided to work double shifts so that they could buy the house they had been renting. Ware had to stay with his beloved grandmother, Big Deal, but when she broke her hips, he had to go to the Rec Center, a place he loathed. There was enforced Meaningful Social Interaction at the Rec Center, along with healthful exercise and constant supervision. When Ware looked over the fence one day and found Jolene planting papaya trees in the parking lot of the abandoned church next door, he slipped away and landed in Paradise—equipped with a smashed and rubble-filled baptistry where he could dive under the water and rise up a new boy.
Sara Pennypacker, author of the sparkling Clementine series and many others, fills this middle-grade novel with tender humor and such serious themes as religion, environmentalism, childhood poverty, and parental neglect. Ware and Jolene are tentative toward one another, both hesitating to trust because of their own secretive home lives. Completely unbeknownst to their caregivers, their days are invaded by the earnest young activist with a Very Important Father and healed by the hardworking, kind bartender. It is his uncle, though, who sees himself in Ware and sets him on the path to develop the gift that is already within him.
Readers will cheer for quiet Ware as he blossoms like Jolene’s gardens. Sweet and serious, this is a hopeful story for 9- to 12-year-olds. Highly recommended.
Disclaimer: I read a library copy of this book. Opinions expressed may not reflect those of my employer or anyone else.
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