Orbiting Jupiter - by Gary D Schmidt (Hardcover)

About the Book

Jack, 12, tells the gripping story of Joseph, 14, who joins his family as a foster child. Damaged in prison, Joseph wants nothing more than to find his baby daughter, Jupiter, whom he has never seen. When Joseph has begun to believe he'll have a future, he is confronted by demons from his past that force a tragic sacrifice.

Book Synopsis

In this riveting novel, two boys discover the true meaning of family and the sacrifices it requires.

Two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at thirteen, who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter.

After spending time in a juvenile facility, he's placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. Here Joseph, damaged and withdrawn, meets twelve-year-old Jack, who narrates the account of the troubled, passionate teen who wants to find his baby at any cost.

When Jack meets his new foster brother, he knows three things about him:

Joseph almost killed a teacher.He was incarcerated at a place called Stone Mountain.He has a daughter. Her name is Jupiter. And he has never seen her.

What Jack doesn't know, at first, is how desperate Joseph is to find his baby girl. Or how urgently he, Jack, will want to help.

But the past can't be shaken off. Even as new bonds form, old wounds reopen. The search for Jupiter demands more from Jack than he can imagine.

This tender, heartbreaking novel is Gary D. Schmidt at his best. He is the author of the Printz Honor and Newbery Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy; Okay for Now, a National Book Award finalist; and The Wednesday Wars, a Newbery Honor Book, among his many acclaimed novels for young readers.

Review Quotes

"The ending is bittersweet but as satisfying as a two-box-of-tissues tearjerker can possibly be (in the realm of juvenile fiction, Schmidt is the master of the emotional gut-punch)." - Horn Book Magazine
"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)
"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)
"The matter-of-fact narrative voice ensures that the tragic plot never overwhelms this wrenching tale of growth and loss." - School Library Journal (starred review)
"A powerful story about second chances, all the more devastating because not everyone gets one." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
#9 Autumn 2015 - Kids' Indie Next list

About the Author

Gary D. Schmidt is the best-selling author of Okay for Now, the Newbery Honor and Printz Honor book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, and the Newbery Honor book The Wednesday Wars. He lives in Alto, Michigan, and is a professor of English at Calvin College in Grand Rapids. Visit www.hmhbooks.com/schmidt.