Joseph

Gr 6—9—Fifteen-year-old Joseph is a great kid but has a difficult life. His father is in Iraq and his mother is a junkie. She has lost their car and their house, is defrauding welfare, and has taken out loans and credit cards in Joseph's name to get money to pay for drugs. Joseph loves his mother, but he can't keep living this way and stay on the straight and narrow. After a fight at school, he is taken in by Aunt Shirley, who knows Joseph is doing the best he can in a bad situation. Should he stay with and take care of his mother or leave her on her own to make a new life for himself with other family members who want to help him be successful? Kevin R. Free gets the characterizations and voices of Sheila Moses's novel (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008) just right. From the young, unsure voice of Joseph to the gravelly, alcohol- and crack-addicted one of his mother to the educated, but frustrated voice of Aunt Shirley, Free overcomes what is sometimes stilted language through accent, pacing, and emphasis to make this story entertaining and emotionally involving. Sure to be a hit among adolescents who may be in tough situations.—Ann Brownson, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston