By Jordan Sonnenblick
4RBooks: 4/6, grades 6+ - 8
Amazon rating: 4.7/5, grade level 4-7
Good Reads: 4.09/5
Common Sense Media: Not yet reviewed
193 pages
Synopsis:
Maverick is getting ready to start sixth grade at middle school. He’s not looking forward to it. He is very short and small and has been picked on at school for many years. His home life is difficult because of the bad choices his mother continues to make.
Maverick decides that this year is going to be different. He carries a plastic star his father gave him to remind him every day to help people and do the right thing. As often happens, that can be difficult, especially when you are trying it for the first time. A series of mishaps and mistakes sends him to the assistant principal’s office more than once. He also finds himself on the wrong side of the class bully, and a girl who seems to despise him. He makes a friend, he thinks, but then the friend betrays him.
Maverick doesn’t give up though and tries to make the pieces of his life fit, and work. It’s hard, but he is determined to make a difference and be a hero, at school, and at home.
Parental Guidance: high
*Maverick’s father was killed in Afghanistan.
*Maverick’s mother has an alcohol problem, and has gone through a number of
loser boyfriends during Maverick’s life.
*The book opens with Maverick’s mom and boyfriend arguing and his mother
getting punched in the face.
*Maverick’s mother doesn’t take care of him. His shoes are falling apart, his
clothes are old and not always clean, there is often little food at home. She
has no steady employment.
*Maverick is teased and bullied at school because of his short stature.
*In trying to stick up for other people, Maverick gets into trouble at school.
*Maverick sees the bully Bowen getting smacked by his own father.
*Maverick’s friend Nate goes out of his way to make life difficult for his step-
mother.
*Maverick’s mother, after drinking, falls asleep and drops her cigarette into the
terrarium where Maverick’s hamster lives. It sets the apartment on fire and kills Maverick’s pet hamster.
*Maverick’s mother ends up in an alcoholic rehab center and he lives with his
Aunt Cat.
*Muck of Maverick’s existence is trying to hide how awful his home life is, trying
to keep it a secret from his school, his classmates, and his aunt.
Recommendation:
There is a lot to like about this book and it has some great messages about being honest, not making assumptions, and standing up for yourself and others. It’s just so intense with the adult problems that have negative effects on Maverick’s life so it’s a hard read. I had tears in my eyes a few times because of what was happening to him, and what he had to deal with.
Maverick is a sixth grader starting middle school and I would only recommend this book to middle school students and teachers. Maybe a school counselor good use the book in elementary school with children struggling at home, but I wouldn’t use this as a class read, group read, or have it in my library because of the adult problems. None of them are presented in a graphic or inappropriate manner, but they are presented with very little sugar coating. They are real and raw.
I did appreciate that the school’s vice principal, who has a reputation as a mean disciplinarian, went out of his way to help Maverick. It was also nice that there was a type of reconciliation at the end for Maverick and his classmates, including the bully.
Maverick is trying to be a hero and in his own way he is, just because he is surviving and trying every day to make his life, and the lives of others, better.
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