Orbiting Jupiter

"Orbiting Jupiter", by Gary D. Schmidt is a heart-wrenching story of a young man trying to find his way in an unkind world of abuse, teenage love, foster care, and against all odds. So masterfully written I couldn't put it down.

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

Gary Schmidt does an excellent job telling Joseph's story. Because the story is told through the eyes of twelve year old Jack, we don't get to know everything about Joseph, just what he's willing to tell Jack. Joseph's story truly is tragic in so many ways, but there is a feeling of hope threaded throughout the story that keeps you going as a reader.

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Orbiting Jupiter is a lovely, sad, well-written book. It reminds us that the real story of someone's life is not what we see, but what we cannot. That people who are wounded need to be given a chance to be heard so they can be understood. And that sometimes we have to hang out with them in the messy parts of their lives before they feel safe enough to become who they really are beneath the story. It's one of those that would be a great classroom read for discussion.

I cannot say enough about this amazing and heartbreaking book. The sparse narrative and the flawless voice and Joseph's giant heart... Schmidt's choice of POV makes this book a perfect crossover book, sure to be loved by many. I've recommended it to children as young as 10 up through adults. The emotional gut-wrenching ending will likely even have an impact on the most jaded readers. I highly recommend this one for anyone with reluctant readers.

What is Family? Gary D. Schmidt's Orbiting Jupiter is a novel for ages 12 and up and 7th grade and up. It's hard to put the book down once started even when it gets quite late, so perhaps parents will have to supervise the end of reading time! It explores family, friendship, child abuse, first love, and teen pregnancy. Have lots of tissues for the end.

The Wednesday Wars was an unexpectedly moving delight when I read it. Part of the joy from reading it was that it wasn't like most other books out there. It felt new and exciting, and when it went for your tear ducts it really earned the tears.

Unfortunately, Orbiting Jupiter doesn't have any of the same novelty going for it. Schmidt, a two-time Newbery Honor winner (one of those for Wednesday Wars) is still a uniquely affecting writer, but even he can only do so much with a story you feel like you've read many, many times before. You know where things are headed from the moment you get the premise: Jack, an open-minded and good-hearted kid, gets a troubled foster brother named Joseph. Joseph almost killed a teacher, was held in a place called Stone Mountain, and has an infant daughter he has never met.

You pretty much know that Joseph is going to be a much better guy than the world is trying to make him out to be, and if it would only give him a chance he might be able to catch a break. Jack will learn to stand up for his foster brother and try to help him get that chance, but it will be hard because the world is going to continue to be cruel and uncaring. It will be heartwarming and heartbreaking... or it would if this story didn't feel so predictable and cliched. And if it wasn't so slender. At 183 pages, personal growth and tragedy has to happen at a rapid clip. Schmidt is a good enough writer to know not to rush things, and he earns the moments he does get, but nothing really lands quite as well or as hard as it should.

Given how much I adored The Wednesday Wars, this was a disappointment, but I'm not giving up. Wednesday was so bold and original that Schmidt can be forgiven for hewing to the tried-and-true here, but I think I like him best when he's daring to be different.

Grade: C+

Original/complete review available at blog, HereWeArGoing, here: https://herewearegoing.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/reading-because-elizabeth-mccracken-and-twitter/

This was recommended by one of the many book-bloggers I follow and was my YA Fiction read of late. In some ways, YA is a comfort read, like mystery-cozies. Too, I am fascinated by the genre, the culture, the ways in which issues are dealt with — or not dealt with. I was shocked by the ending of this one, a tragedy I did not expect, and, for me, it brought home what I dislike about much of this category of read: facile, unearned events/tragedies/discoveries that echo the cheap emotionalism of 1970’s Afterschool Specials and current Lifetime Movies. Too much issue, too much weep, packed into too few pages with too little background, motivation and reality.

Orbiting Jupiter is a quick and simple read that somehow manages to be complex in its classicality. The relationships were heartwarming and touching. The ending was very sad and not very expected, in my opinion. I loved this book and recommend it highly. I will enjoy rereading it in a few years.

Leave the tragedies to Shakespeare please. I was asked to review this for a global book club for middle school. Why are we shoving all this sad stuff down the throats of our youth? Just turn on the news and they get plenty of real tragedy. There's no swearing and no explicit sex. But 2 13-year olds become parents. Plenty of bullying, violence and lots of stupid decision making. If you want your kid to read how not to mess up his/her life then make sure to point out the idiotic decisions made by adults as well as the kids in this book.

Orbiting Jupiter was a well-written novel that I would recommend to anyone looking for a quick read. The story if easy to read, flows well, and has a great plot.The ideas and themes put into the novel are ones everyone should know and are important in many aspects of life. While the story does have them coming from a thirteen-year-old who normally wouldn't have to be going through this much at this age, it's still a great way to have young children pulled into a great novel and learn some great themes.
The novel is very well written in the way that almost anyone could read it. The figurative language also adds to this by allowing the reader to imagine more deeply into the novel. The plot is easy to follow and makes sense. I do have to say the plot is a little predictable though, but still extremely well ending to the book.All the ideas and conflicts came together to form a fantastic book. It was light-hearted, deep, warming, and sad all at the same time. you will definitely need some tissues when reading this book. I think Gary Schmidt did a great job writing this young adult / childrens book, and I would definitely read his novels again.
Overall this was a great story with some well-written morals and themes inside of it. I think Gary Schmidt did a great job pulling the reader into the novel, and keeping them. The novel was grabbing and was so well written you just want to keep reading. With the fact that the book flowed well, was easy to read, and the plot made sense, it made a greatly enjoyable book. All in all, I recommend this book to anyone and thinkn you should for sure go to your liberary and get this book.

Stunning, heartbreaking, beautiful. I love the protagonists voice, the nuances of the way he speaks, the way he has certain phrases and the absolutely mesmerising theme running through the book. It's not often a story can bring me to tears, but this did. A must read