From the Publisher
"Schmidt writes from the heart in this moving novel, showing how a small community sometimes quietly protects its members as they face inevitable changes. A rewarding reading experience." — Booklist (starred review)
"Readers’ eyes aren’t likely to stay dry considering the sharply felt emotional stakes and the growing tension. . . . Brimming with love and heart." — Kirkus Reviews
(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)
Kirkus Reviews
2024-05-04
Having lost one beloved foster sibling in Orbiting Jupiter (2015), Jack Hurd faces the devastating prospect of losing another in this equally intense companion volume.
Schmidt packs his story with seemingly tough but emotionally vulnerable males circling orphaned Jupiter, who is 3 years old and a charismatic scene stealer. Eighth grader Jack, her foster brother, is positively head over heels, but so (startlingly) is his cross-country running mentor and erstwhile tormentor, Jay Perkins. Then Jupiter’s birth mom’s parents suddenly show up with a custody claim just as her formal adoption is about to go through. Even her thoroughly unlikable, domineering grandfather turns out to be harboring a deep-seated grief that shows itself when tragedy seems about to strike that troubled family once again. Despite his first-person narration’s straightforward tone, Jack is anything but reserved in his feelings, and whether moved by rage, pain, or (most often) joy, he’s constantly breaking into tears. Readers’ eyes aren’t likely to stay dry, either, considering the sharply felt emotional stakes and the growing tension as the legal claim heads to a hearing, while Jack’s small town loyally rallies around him and his loving foster family. The outcome remains in doubt until a final, powerful release. The cast presents white; returning fans will welcome back several characters from previous outings, most notably Coach Swieteck, a hard-nosed, amputee war veteran.
Lachrymose but brimming also with love and heart. (Fiction. 12-16)
