Junebug [Paperback]

Some of the stuff that goes on in the Auburn Street Projects, I'm never gonna do. These projects are like some kind of never-never land, like they never got put on a regular map. Nobody comes around here on purpose. It's as if we all got lost, right in the middle of the city.

Reeve McClain, Jr. -- Junebug -- has decided to skip his birthday. Since ten is the age when boys in the projects are forced to join gangs or are ensnared by drug dealers, Junebug would rather remain nine. Still, he does have a birthday wish: to someday become a ship's captain and sail away. So Junebug comes up with a plan to launch a flotilla, fifty glass bottles containing notes with his wish, in the hope that someone somewhere will help to make his dream come true.

Alice Mead is the author of many highly acclaimed novels, includingAdem's Cross, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and two other books featuring Junebug. The first two Junebug books were both NCSS-CBC Notable Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies. She lives in Maine.

A boy. A birthday. A dream of a better life far, far away.

Junebug is a compelling, thoughtful narrator whose wishes and determination are balanced by Jolita's absence of dreams and character. The novel is hard-hitting and unleavened by humor, but Junebug's likable personality and the upbeat note at the end will leave readers satisfied. A likely choice for school literature circles. Booklist

A warm and inspiring tale...Readers will be rooting for Junebug and his dreams all the way. Pointer, Kirkus Reviews

Junebug is the story of risks taken and goals achieved by a small nuclear family struggling against a harsh environment. The ultimate message, however, is that change is possible when responsibility is an individual obligation. Mead's writing approaches the power of Walter Dean Myers's novels about inner-city life, but is for a younger audience. School Library Journal