Pearsall, Shelley The Seventh Most Important Thing, 273
pages. Alfred A. Knopf (Random House Children’s Books), 2015.
$16.99. Language: (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G;
Violence: G.
One cold, gray November day, thirteen -year-old Arthur Owens
picked up a brick and threw it at an old man’s head. Arthur begins a
journey of walking in another’s shoes when he is ordered by the court to assist
“the junk man” in his endeavor. He finds help where least expected from
his no nonsense probation officer “Billie”, and “Squeak”, his ever-bullied
classmate. Arthur may live at a time
when our country is in turmoil with civil rights and the assassination of a
president, but for him it is simply time to discover his true self as struggles
to find out what his most important things are.
This is a story of redemption, friendship and coming of
age. I loved this book and these beautifully written characters.
James Hampton, known throughout the town as “the junk man”, is a character
based on the true life American folk artist by the same name. The seven
most important things are items he uses to create his life’s masterpiece
entitled “The Third Throne of Heaven”. Arthur is wonderfully
flawed and in pain.
EL, MS, - ESSENTIAL. Reviewer: Jennifer Miller Elementary
School Librarian
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