Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt
Schmidt, G.
(2015). Orbiting Jupiter. New York,
NY: Clarion.
When the Hurd's agree to foster 14-year-old Joseph Brook, the social worker shares three important things they need to know about him: he almost killed a teacher, he's been incarcerated at Stone Mountain for the last two months, and he has a 3 month-old daughter whom he has never met. Ever the caring and patient family, the Hurd's are not dissuaded and bring Joseph into their home, teaching him about working on their dairy farm and encouraging him to do well in school. Twelve-year-old Jack is excited to have a foster brother, even though he is a bit different and a lot of the teachers and kids at school give him a hard time. They may not be brothers, but as Jack says, he "has his back." As Joseph slowly starts to trust the Hurd's, he begins to come out of his shell and shares the story of his daughter, Jupiter, and her young mother who passed away during child birth. Even though everyone tells him that he is too young, and he can not give Jupiter all the things she needs, Joseph insists that he can give her love and he will do whatever it takes to find her.
Evaluation Criteria: Characters and Plot
14-year-old Joseph has had it rough. He was raised by an abusive father, almost
killed a teacher, and had to spend time at Stone Mountain. He even has a three-month old daughter whom
he has never seen. It’s no wonder he has
difficulty talking to and trusting people, or letting anyone touch him. After coming to live with the Hurd family on
their farm and finding a few trusted teachers at his new school we begin to see
a miraculous change in Joseph. He laughs,
he smiles, he works hard and even has plans to go to college. The one thing Joseph can’t get out of his
mind though is getting to see his daughter, Jupiter. When his new foster family agrees to help him
search for her, Joseph is ecstatic. The
plot takes an unfortunate twist when Joseph’s real father reemerges with plans
of his own.
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