Okay for Now Book Review by Tutu A.

Okay for Now

Author: Gary D. Schmidt (Also author of Wednesday Wars)

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Cover Citation: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9165406-okay-for-now?ac=1&from_search=1

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But I picked the wrong day. Because there never are any right days.

“Are you crazy…you want me to take you Yankee Stadium because you lost some lousy baseball cap?”

“It’s not just some lousy-”

That’s all I got out. My father’s hands are quick. That’s the kind of guy he is.

Doug Swieteck is surrounded by bullies. A dad who does things that well…you don’t need to know. An older brother who knows where to beat him up the right and in hard to notice places, and another older brother (the eldest) who did the same thing, but is now doing it in Vietnam. After getting fired from his job at the lumber company upon getting into a fight with his boss, Doug’s dad decides to move the family up to stupid Marysville in upstate New York. Doug’s arrival isn’t a particularly welcomed one as he is treated like a thug, not only by the town deli owner’s daughter, Lil Spicer, but by the rest of the town as well. And he’s fine with it because he didn’t even want to come to stupid, boring Marysville. However, he does find something worth his while to do. Enraptured by Audubon’s Birds of America, Doug begins reflecting the struggles and troubles of his life with the birds he learns to draw. And with a little help from Lil, and his own occasional courageousness, Doug is able to find some adults who will actually treat him like he means something. Told from a first person point-of-view, Okay for Now tells of Doug and his coming-of-age. From his perspective, you see signs of abuse, loneliness, and self-deprecation, but also of love, redemption, and triumph. You will definitely want to give it a read.