Junebug
Alice MeadBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
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.
An inquisitive young boy who lives with his mother and younger sister in a rough housing project in New Haven, Connecticut, approaches his tenth birthday with a mixture of anticipation and worry.
Synopsis
A boy. A birthday. A dream of a better life far, far away.
Children's Literature
Junebug is an almost ten-year-old African American boy, living in the Auburn Street project with his loving, hard-working mother and younger sister, Tasha. As he approaches his birthday, he has both dreams and dreads. He dreams that someday he will have the chance to sail, but he dreads his tenth birthday because, at that age, the boys in his neighborhood are usually pressured to join gangs, and this is something that Junebug definitely wants to avoid. When his birthday arrives, Junebug tries to fulfill his dream by launching his collection of 50 glass bottles, each with a note inside asking for a sailing lesson. How Junebug's dream is fulfilled and how his dread is averted makes for a warmhearted and believable novel.
Editorials
From the Publisher
“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“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.”—Kirkus Reviews, Pointer Review