Free lunch

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Title :

Free lunch / Rex Ogle.

Title:

Free lunch

Author:

Ogle, Rex

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

206 pages ; 22 cm

ISBN:

9781324003601

9781324016946

Production / Publication Information:

New York, NY : Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W. W. Norton & Company, [2019]

Summary:

"A distinctive new voice: Rex Ogle's story of starting middle school on the free lunch program is timely, heartbreaking, and true. Free Lunch is the story of Rex Ogle's first semester in sixth grade. Rex and his baby brother often went hungry, wore secondhand clothes, and were short of school supplies, and Rex was on his school's free lunch program. Grounded in the immediacy of physical hunger and the humiliation of having to announce it every day in the school lunch line, Rex's is a compelling story of a more profound hunger -- that of a child for his parents' love and care. Compulsively readable, beautifully crafted, and authentically told with the voice and point of view of a 6th-grade kid, Free Lunch is a remarkable debut by a gifted storyteller"--

Target audience note:

Ages: 11-14.

Language:

English

Personal Subject:

Ogle, Rex-Childhood and youth-Juvenile literature.

Subject Term:

Poor children -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Hunger -- Juvenile literature.

School children -- Food -- Juvenile literature.

Middle school students -- Juvenile literature.

JUVENILE NONFICTION / Social Topics / Homelessness & Poverty.

JUVENILE NONFICTION / Biography & Autobiography / General.

JUVENILE NONFICTION / Family / General (see also headings under Social Topics).

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	BIOGRAPHY OGLE, RE. / TEEN	31330008944187	Searching... Unknown
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2024	31330009205349	Searching... Unknown
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2024	31330009205513	Searching... Unknown
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2024	31330009205505	Searching... Unknown
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2024	31330009205497	Searching... Unknown
Summer Reading (Andover)	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN SUMMER READING 2024	31330009205489	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Amesbury Public Library	YA B OGLE	32114002772458	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library Children's Room	J OGLE	31330008685673	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Billerica Public Library	YA/OGLE	33934004281219	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Billerica Public Library	YA/OGLE	33934004281201	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	J BIO OGLE	32116003698731	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	YA BIO OGLE (SUMMER READING)	32116003978505	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	YA BIO OGLE (SUMMER READING)	32116003978497	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Chelmsford MacKay Branch	J/BIOG/OGLE	31480011304349	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	J/BIOG/OGLE	31480011304331	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library	Y B OGLE, REX	30470001795821	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Haverhill Public Library	J/BIOG/OGLE	31479007341596	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Ipswich Public Library	J OGLE	32122002749699	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lowell - Pollard Memorial Library	YA B OGLE, R.	31481005473504	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Manchester-by-the-Sea Public Library	J B OGLE	32124001997295	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Merrimac Public Library	YA OGL	32125001349155	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Methuen - Nevins Memorial Library	J-B OGLE, R.	31548003282283	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Reading - Flint Memorial Library	J FIC OGL	31550002369640	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Rockport Public Library	J B OGLE	32129002480019	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Rowley Public Library	J FIC OGL	32130000957263	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Salisbury Public Library	J FIC OGL	32131000865498	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tewksbury Public Library	TEEN B OGLE	32132003208876	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Topsfield Town Library	YA OGLE	32133002489517	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tyngsborough Public Library	J/B/OGLE/PB	32137002186270	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library	YA B OGLE	31990004818220	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Wilmington Memorial Library	KIDS BIOGRAPHY OGLE	32136003522525	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Winner of the 2020 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

Instead of giving him lunch money, Rex's mom has signed him up for free meals. As a poor kid in a wealthy school district, better-off kids crowd impatiently behind him as he tries to explain to the cashier that he's on the free meal program. The lunch lady is hard of hearing, so Rex has to shout.

Free Lunch is the story of Rex's efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade--who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he's trouble--all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend are out of work, and life at home is punctuated by outbursts of violence. Halfway through the semester, his family is evicted and ends up in government-subsidized housing in view of the school. Rex lingers at the end of last period every day until the buses have left, so no one will see where he lives.

Unsparing and realistic, Free Lunch is a story of hardship threaded with hope and moments of grace. Rex's voice is compelling and authentic, and Free Lunch is a true, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

With candor and vivid detail, Ogle's debut, a memoir, captures the experience of chronic poverty in the United States. In addition to the usual middle school problems, Rex cringes every time he has to remind the cafeteria lady he's on the free lunch program. At home, his unemployed mother and stepfather download their stress on him and each other, verbally and physically: " definitely loves me more when she has money," Rex says. "She can think straight. She remembers she cares about me." Ogle doesn't shy away from the circumstances (he and his toddler stepbrother are sometimes left alone for days at a time), but there is no shortage of humor, human kindness, and kid hijinks. Though the story is an intense middle grade read, Ogle's emotional honesty pays off in the form of complex characterization and a bold, compassionate thesis: "Maybe being poor broke her.... and she can't get well as long as this is her life." The book ends on a hopeful if precarious note that underscores the importance of dismantling the shame surrounding poverty. In a country where 43% of children live in low-income families, Ogle's memoir is all too relatable. An author's note, q&a, and discussion guide conclude. Ages 11--14. (Sept.)

Kirkus Review

Recounting his childhood experiences in sixth grade, Ogle's memoir chronicles the punishing consequences of poverty and violence on himself and his family.The start of middle school brings about unwanted changes in young Rex's life. His old friendships devolve as his school friends join the football team and slowly edge him out. His new English teacher discriminates against him due to his dark skin (Rex is biracial, with a white absentee dad and a Mexican mom) and secondhand clothes, both too large and too small. Seemingly worse, his mom enrolls him in the school's free-lunch program, much to his embarrassment. "Now everyone knows I'm nothing but trailer trash." His painful home life proffers little sanctuary thanks to his mom, who swings from occasional caregiver to violent tyrant at the slightest provocation, and his white stepdad, an abusive racist whose aggression outrivals that of Rex's mom. Balancing the persistent flashes of brutality, Ogle magnificently includes sprouts of hope, whether it's the beginnings of a friendship with a "weird" schoolmate, joyful moments with his younger brother, or lessons of perseverance from Abuela. These slivers of relative levity counteract the toxic relationship between young Rex, a boy prone to heated outbursts and suppressed feelings, and his mother, a fully three-dimensional character who's viciously thrashing against the burden of poverty. It's a fine balance carried by the author's outstanding, gracious writing and a clear eye for the penetrating truth.A mighty portrait of poverty amid cruelty and optimism. (author's note, author QA, discussion guide, writing guide, resources) (Memoir. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Middle school can be daunting, even under ideal conditions. But if, like Rex, you are also dealing with a father who abandoned you, a mother and her boyfriend who beat you, food and housing insecurity, and the stigma of free lunch, the results can be overwhelming. Ogle's memoir details the first semester of sixth grade, where his grade-school friends desert him for football; some teachers prejudge him because he is poor and Hispanic; and the elderly, deaf lunch lady never remembers his name, forcing him to loudly announce his situation daily. Eventually, he meets fellow outsider Ethan, who introduces him to the world of comics and true friendship. Ogle's engrossing narrative is rich in lived experience, offering a window into the ways that poverty can lead to domestic violence and feelings of unworthiness. The abuse Rex and his mother suffer will disturb many; too many others will recognize Rex's circumstances as their own. Appended with an author's note, Q&A, and social services resources, this is an important and ultimately hopeful memoir.--Kay Weisman Copyright 2010 Booklist