Middle of Nowhere

by Caroline Adderson (Author)

Middle of Nowhere
Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade
A middle-grade novel about two maybe-orphans and their unlikely friendship with a cranky old neighbor. At first Curtis isn't that worried when his mother doesn't come home from her all-night job at the local gas station. She'll be back, he's ten out of ten positive. Besides, Curtis is used to looking after himself and his five-year-old brother, Artie. But when the landlord starts pressuring them for the rent and the authorities start to investigate, it's more than a 12-year-old can handle. Just in time, Mrs. Burt, the cranky, lonely old lady who lives across the street, offers to take Curtis and Artie to her lakeside cabin for the summer. As summer sails by and the weather grows colder, Mrs. Burt seems to be preparing to spend the winter at the cabin, and Curtis starts to worry. Have they really all just absconded to the lake for a summer holiday? Or have the two boys been kidnapped?
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School Library Journal

Gr 5-8--When 12-year-old Curtis's mother leaves him and his five-year-old brother, Artie, without warning, Curtis does everything he can to prevent Social Services from finding out. However, he soon discovers that he has an ally: a crotchety elderly neighbor who needs his help as well. Mrs. Burt takes the boys from their rundown apartment to a remote country cabin where Curtis learns about wilderness living, and Artie's allegiances waver. Smooth writing, appropriate pacing, well-chosen details, and a well-crafted sense of place make this book an easy read, particularly in the second half where readers learn about day-to-day life in a remote wilderness and find themselves cheering for the narrator's courage and determination. Curtis's convincingly reasonable voice makes it almost possible to overlook various plot flaws: his utter lack of suspicion or curiosity, or sense of moral dilemma. For a less-problematic hiding-from-social-workers offering, readers might prefer Jennifer Richard Jacobson's Small As an Elephant (Candlewick, 2011), or Traci L. Jones's Silhouetted by the Blue (Farrar, 2011).--Rhona Campbell, Washington DC Public Library

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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Review quotes

"'Do you understand now, boys, why I can't ever go into an old folks' home? Who would help me with my gas?'
'The nurses, ' I said.
'Ha. They won't. They'll put me in diapers and leave me in the corner.'
'You're too old for diapers, Mrs. Burt, ' Artie said.
'Darn right I am.'"
— from the book
Caroline Adderson
Caroline Adderson is the author of several award-winning books. Her works of adult fiction have been nominated for the Governor General s Award, the Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize, the Giller Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. She is a three-time CBC Literary Award winner, two-time winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and recipient of the 2006 Marian Engel Award for her body of work. Her children s books include I, Bruno, nominated for the Chocolate Lily and Shining Willow book awards, Very Serious Children, winner of the Diamond Willow Award and shortlisted for the Rocky Mountain Book Award, and Jasper John Dooley. She is also the author of the picture book Norman, Speak!, forthcoming, which won the Helen Isobel Sissons Canadian Children's Story Award. She lives in Vancouver."
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781554981328
Lexile Measure
640
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Groundwood Books
Publication date
August 05, 2014
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039000 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | General
JUV013050 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Orphans & Foster Homes
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
Library of Congress categories
-
Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award
Nominee 2014 - 2014

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