Okay for Now: Book Review

Okay for Now: Book Review

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Schmidt, Gary D. Okay for Now. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. ISBN 0544022807 

PLOT SUMMARY

This book is all about Doug Swieteck, set in his new home of Marysville, New York in the summer of 1968 during the time of the Vietnam War and the Apollo space missions. Doug faces many hardships, living with his abusive, alcoholic father with a quick temper, bully older brothers, and awaiting his oldest brother to return from the Vietnam War, but finds an escape through John James Audubon’s Birds of America. Follow Doug and his personal growth throughout this tale, and the “transforming power of at over disaster”.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt struck me with such an incredible amount of emotion that I simply could not stop talking about it, and found myself reliving moments of the book over and over again. This is a work of historical fiction, set towards the end of the 1960s with such historic happenings such as the Vietnam War, putting a man on the moon, baseball, etc. Schmidt uses such imagery, speech, and historical names and happenings to place the reader into the story, providing us with an authentic experience of the late 1960s. The very beginning of this story speaks of the baseball player Joe Pepitone and how he once gave Doug his New York Yankees baseball cap when he and Horace Clarke visited, mentioning famous baseball players of the time. The book also has little historic reference and tidbits here and there, such as the use of typewriters over computers, prices of the period, references to the war and war protests, as well as references to the damages of one’s mental state after coming home from war, and much more.

Though a work of historical fiction, this is primarily the story of Doug Swieteck, an adolescent who is less than thrilled to have moved to “stupid Marysville”, New York, where it snows “once a week. Maybe twice…[but] every Saturday” without fail, disrupting, his new-found delivery job. Doug’s life is complicated. He lives with his abusive father, his bully brothers (though one is not around for the full story as he is fighting in Vietnam), and a shadow of a mother who rarely speaks up. He is determined not to become like his father and brothers, and finds an escape on the second floor of the library; Audobon’s Birds of America with images of birds that captivate Doug. Images of birds accompany the beginning of each new chapter, and add to the themes/happenings of that chapter, as well as provide insight into Doug’s thoughts and personal growth. For example, Doug’s thoughts about the first image he sees reflect some of his inner feelings of feeling alone.

He was all alone, and he looked like he was falling out of the sky and into this cold green sea. His wings were back, his tail feathers were back, and his neck was pulled around as if he were trying to turn but couldn’t…The sky around him was dark, like the air was too heavy to fly in. The bird was falling and there wasn’t a single thing in the world that cared at all.

This mirrors Doug’s feelings of frustration as he faces his world of abuse and neglect alone, no one seeing his struggling or caring for him. Author Schmidt uses these images to convey emotion and advance themes as the story continues. Schmidt also does a fantastic job of creating Doug as a relatable character and giving him an entertaining and unique voice to see his world through. The audience becomes attached to Doug and cheers along with his happy moments, such as the happiness of his artistic expression and deciding to find the other bird pictures, as well as the sad times, such as his dealings with his brothers and father. This is an emotional, wonderful story, and I could not recommend it reading this book any higher!

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

National Book Award Finalist

From School Library Journal: "Readers will miss Doug and his world when they’re done, and will feel richer for having experienced his engaging, tough, and endearing story."

From Kirkus Review: "This is Schmidt's best novel yet—darker than The Wednesday Wars and written with more restraint, but with the same expert attention to voice, character and big ideas."

From The New York Times: “beneath the jumble of tragedy and tragicomedy is a story about the healing power of art and about a boy’s intellectual awakening…“Okay for Now” is about how one kid, among legions, has to reach beyond his family for help from the other adults in his life to give him a hand.”

CONNECTIONS

Use to talk to children about getting through hardships in life, such as bullying.

Use while teaching about American soldiers and life during the time of the Vietnam War.

Use to teach children about art therapy and finding different hobbies that make you happy.

Read other books by Gary D. Schmidt such as:

• ·         First Boy. ISBN 0312371497
• ·         Orbiting Jupiter. ISBN 0544938399
• ·         The Wednesday Wars. ISBN 054723760X