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Description edit
As a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, with no friends and a louse for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him. So begins a coming-of-age masterwork full of equal parts comedy and tragedy from Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt. As Doug struggles... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Doug Swieteck: Main character who hates his new home and has issues finding his identity.
- Lucas: Doug's older brother, serving overseas in the Vietnam War
- Mr. Powell: The kindly older librarian that helps break Doug out of his shell.
- Joe Pepitone: Doug's favorite baseball player.
- Principal Peattie: a know-it-all principal, who doesn't seem to understand how kids think.
- Christopher: Doug's brother who is accused of robbery.
- Mrs. Spicer: Mr. Spicer's Wife, helps load the wagon.
- Mr. Gregory: Broadway producer
- Mr. Big Bucks Ballard: Really a sweet man who owns the paper mill who is hated by Doug's dad. Helps Doug learn horseshoes. Grows flowers.
- Mrs. Windermere: An old woman who writes Broadway plays and may seem like a grouch, but is a nice women who can be reasoned with.
- Coach Reed: Doug's gym teacher, a Vietnam War veteran
- Mr. Ferris: The teacher who doesn't have anything against Doug when he first starts school and believes that you're different than what other people in your family have/may have done.
- Lillian Spicer: The daughter of the owner of Spicer's Deli. She at first doesn't like Doug, but they come to like each other and work with each other throughout the book. They have all their classes except Gym together and so they do every assignment together.
- James Russell: a boy in Doug's class
- Mrs. Daugherty: Mother of 5 kids, on Doug's delivery route
- Mrs. Verne: The grouchy old 8th grade algebra teacher, who actually turns out to be more than she is.
- Helen Burns: character in Jane Eyre
- Mr. Barber: One of Doug's teachers
- Otis Bottom: Doctor's son; in Doug's class
- Mr. Loeffler: An elderly veteran on Doug's delivery route
- Mr. McElroy: One of Doug's teachers
- Miss Cowper: Doug's English teacher, who at first doesn't like him because she and the other teachers think he is a problem child since his brother is suspected to have broken into a local business, but later learns he doesn't read the homework assignments because he doesn't know many of the basics of reading.
- Clarence: Add a description of this character.
- Mrs. Stenson
- Ernie Eco: Doug's father's best friend. He is a thug and a drunk. He steals Doug's favorite jacket then flaunts the jacket in front of him.
- Ben: One of the Daughtery kids
- Phronsie: One of the Daughtery kids
- Polly: One of the Daughtery kids
- the kind: czc v
- sam
Setting & Locations edit
- Marysville: Eight beat up stores and a bar out front of where we were livingFour blocks of houses as tiny and beat up as oursTwelve blocks of houses that had grass out front, a lot with bikes lying on their lawns like their kidsBig trees along all the streets Eighteen houses with flags outside. Twenty-four sprinklers goingFourteen people out on the stoops, sitting around because there wasn't any boring thing else to do in boring Marysville. Two who waved to me. One with a transistor radio on--except it was the stupid Mets and not the Yankees. Two dogs asleep on their porches. One barked. One lookedllike it was too hot to think of chasing me, even though he knew I didn't belong.
- Washington Irving Junior High School: Doug's school. The teachers there do not like people from out of town. They also decide Doug is a troublemaker...at first.
- Yankee Stadium: Doug wants to go there to see Joe Pepitone.
- Vietnam: Doug's brother returns from the war in Vietnam missing his legs and half blind. He has nightmares every nignt about the horror he saw there.
Organizations edit
- New York Yankees: Baseball team in the '60's.
First Sentence edit
Joe Pepitone once gave me his New York Yankees baseball cap.
Table of Contents edit
1. The Arctic Tern
2. The Red-Throated Diver
3. The Large Billed Puffin
4. The Black-Backed Gull
5. The Yellow Shank
6. The Snowy Heron
7. The Forked-Tailed Petrel
8. The Brown Pelican
9. The Great Esquimaux Curlew
10. The Arctic Tern
Authors & Contributors edit
- Gary D. Schmidt (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: Add the language.
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: Add the publication date.
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: Add the publication date.
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 368
Awards edit
- National Book Award (Finalist, 2011: Young People's Literature)
- Odyssey Award (January 2012, Honor)
- Texas Lone Star Reading List (2012)
Subjects edit
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