Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

 From Goodreads, 

"When Jack meets his new foster brother, he already knows three things about him:

Joseph almost killed a teacher.

He was incarcerated at a place called Stone Mountain.

He has a daughter. Her name is Jupiter. And he has never seen her.

What Jack doesn’t know, at first, is how desperate Joseph is to find his baby girl.

Or how urgently he, Jack, will want to help.

But the past can’t be shaken off. Even as new bonds form, old wounds reopen. The search for Jupiter demands more from Jack than he can imagine.

This tender, heartbreaking novel is Gary D. Schmidt at his best."

Goodreads - Orbiting Jupiter

Awards and Nominations: 

• Missouri Truman Readers Award Nominee (2018)
• Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Nominee (2018)

I wasn't a crazy and wild teenager.  I was well behaved, had my moments of rebellion, but ultimately was a rule follower.  I think walking the straight and narrow (for the most part) has opened up this genre where I want to read about kids who are rebellious or have a troubled past.  I just live vicariously through them.  This book gave me all kinds of feels as I read it.

Joseph is just a regular boy.  Except that he is in foster care.  And that he just got out of juvie for almost killing a teacher.  And that he is a teen father.  Joseph goes to live with a nice family who has a son named Jack.  Joseph just wants to find his daughter and meet her, but he also has to learn how to cope and be a part of a family.  

Spoiler Alerts Below!!!

This book was a super slow and super weird start.  One chapter in I was questioning if I would be able to read this.  I love that this book touched on topics that are so common in the age that Joseph is, but are never talked about.  Joseph is a teen dad.  And by teen dad, I mean that he is 14 years old and has an infant daughter named Jupiter that he has never met.  Joseph was madly in love with Maddie (Jupiter's mother).  I think that Schmidt very tastefully painted their love for each other.  It was a classic Romeo and Juliet type situation.  Maddie was from a wealthy family, Joseph wasn't, and they were never to be.  But they felt such a connection and love with each other that they ended up having sex.  Schmidt kind of glazed over the entire event, but focused on the aftermath of that choice.  Maddie got pregnant at 13, Maddie gave birth, and Maddie died.  I know that if I had read that as a teen I would have been like "OMG I could die!"  Not all kids are going to think that way, but I think it's good to have realistic events in books.  Teenagers need to realize that doing these things can have serious consequences.  It's not all rainbows and butterflies.  

I had no complaints about this book, but the ending... guys I was legit freaking out.  This is a huge spoiler alert.  But Joseph ends up dying.  Joseph's dad ends up showing up at Jack's house and demands that Jack's parents let Joseph go with him.  Jack ends up walking up to the house and Joseph's dad grabs Jack instead.  He is threatening to kidnap him basically.  Joseph ends up agreeing to go so that Jack will be safe.  They drive off and end up wrecking and Joseph dies.  I was BEYOND shocked and devastated.  Joseph had made all this progress throughout the entire book and had learned the value of family.  He was open to hugging his foster parents and they were going to fight to get Jupiter so she could live with them.  AND THEN HE DIED!!!  I was so upset.  The moment Schmidt killed him off I knew how the book would end.  It was such a jaw-dropping moment.

The entire book was so well written.  I'm so excited to pass this book off to the 7th/8th grade ELA teacher in our building.  I think she is going to love this and I genuinely hope she puts it in her library.  I give this 5 stars.  This is a perfect book for 7th/8th grade and up.