Freaky Fast Frankie Joe [Paperback]

Twelve-year-old Frankie Joe Huckaby can't find anything good to say about Clearview, Illinois, where he must spend the next ten months living with a father he knows only through birthday cards, a stepmother he didn't know existed, and four half brothers intent on making him the freak of the town. When life in Clearview becomes unbearable, Frankie Joe hatches a plan to ride his bike back to the Lone Star Trailer Park in Laredo, Texas. For that he needs money, and so he opens Frankie Joe's Freaky Fast Delivery Service. But Frankie Joe hasn't counted on quirky clients, unpredictable winter weather, and his equally unpredictable new family.* Readers, like the town folk and his newfound family, will be rooting for Frankie Joe. The final scenes soar with hope. —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
 
Frankie Joe is an appealing, resilient character who, in spite of his resentment and anger, possesses an easygoing determination to not only survive but to do so with humor and dignity. —The Horn Book
 
Readers who enjoy graceful, understated humor in their realistic fiction should find this right up their alley —Booklist
 
tugs at readers' heartstrings. . . . children in blended families, including reluctant readers, will relate to this story. —School Library Journal
 
Nominated to the Texas Bluebonnet Master List
A Mark Twain Award Nominee
Nominated to the Florida Sunshine State List
A Golden Sower Award Nominee Nominated for the Sequoyah Book Award
A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year
Nominated for the William Allen White Children's Book AwardLutricia Clifton was born in Oklahoma but moved frequently when she was growing up. She married and raised two sons in Colorado, where she earned a BA and an MA in English from Colorado State University. She now lives in northern Illinois, the setting ofFreaky Fast Frankie Joe, her lĂ`