Poetry/Guy Friday: And Then Boom

Fipps, Lisa. And Then Boom
May 7, 2024 by Nancy Paulsen Books

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

**Spoiler alert. Don't read if you want to be surprised by the plot developments.*

Joe Oak and his grandmother as doing the best they can since his mother ran off. They lost their house when the mother jumped bail, and have spent time living in their GMC Pacer and washing up in store washrooms while the grandmother cleans houses to try to make ends meet. Joe is lucky that he has a supportive 6th grade teacher at school, Mrs. Swan, who keeps snacks available to students and even has the school change the lunch system so that kids on free and reduced lunch don't have to annouce it to everyone. Joe has been friends with Nick and Hakeem for a long time, but doesn't want them to know he has been living in a car. When Nick finds out (and he had noticed that Joe was falling asleep in class and seemed rumpled), he lets Joe know about a unit available to rent in the mobile home park where he lives. Nick's mother struggled with depression, and Nick has been in foster care a couple of times, so he understands that sometimes life is hard. Joe and his grandmother are very happy with their new accomodations, and revel in taking showers and getting their clothes clean. The owner of Castle Mobile Home Park, Frank King, offers the two free furniture, and asks them to call him Uncle Frankie and to let him know if there is anything they need. Joe's grandmother even put in a garden. When Joe's grandmother suddenly dies of a stomach aneurysm, his mother comes back to live with him, but it is not long before she takes off again. For a while, he has enough food, and gets some new clothes from Ms. Swan's Magic Closet, but taking care of himself becomes increasingly difficult since he finds three abandoned dogs and is trying to feed them as well. He eventually tells Nick and Hakeem, who help him raise some money by selling items at the community rummage sale, but this doesn't last long. When summer comes, Hakeem gives him some food leftover from a cooking class, but this is all lost when the electricity is cut. Joe eats the food from the garden, and dumpster dives at a local restaurant until the dumpster is locked. Nick has asked Joe to look after his mother, and when Joe notices she hasn't left the house is a long time, he seeks help from a neighbor. Uncle Frankie notices that Joe's mother is never around, but doesn't press him for details. When a tornado comes perilously close to Joe's home, he manages to ride out the storm with the dogs by tethering himself to a tree, but eventually is thrown through the air, luckily landing on a pile of soft things. He tells the people who rescue him that his mother has left and CPS needs to be notified. He's kept in the hospital for a while to get treatment for his infected tooth, storm injuries, and malnutrition, and is placed into foster care with a farming family who is willing to take the three dogs as well. While Joe misses his grandmother, and even his mother, he is glad to be in a stable home setting where his physical and psychological needs can be met. He even puts together a mini food pantry to help other children who are struggling. 

Strengths: Fipps' Starfish has a huge following, and this will be another title that will be popular. There is something about seeing children faced with overwhelming challenges and having to care for themselves that intrigues tweens. Joe's situation is realistically portrayed, and the details of how he and his grandmother make do are harrowing and yet hopeful. His friends stick with him, and it's good to see that he has people like Uncle Frankie and Mrs. Swan to help as much as they can. 
Weaknesses: Because I've gone back to my old E Ink E Reader, I wasn't quite sure at first that this was a novel in verse. The lines weren't positioned on the page the way they will be in the final copy. The language embraced more modern poetic conversations, and I would have enjoyed more details about Joe's friendship with Hakeem and Nick or the dogs that we might have gotten in a prose format. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who Rudd's How to Stay Invisible, Ogle's Free Lunch, Walter's The King of Jam Sandwiches, Braden's The Benefits of Being an Octopus, and Supplee's Sweetness All Around. I'll probably buy a copy because the cover is appealing, but might have to hand sell it to my students, who are often reluctant to pick up verse novels for reasons I don't understand.