One Kid's Trash
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
From the acclaimed author of Roll with It and Tune It Out comes a funny, moving, and “not to be missed” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) middle grade novel about a boy who uses his unusual talent for decoding people’s trash to try to fit in at his new school.
Hugo is not happy about being dragged halfway across the state of Colorado just because his dad had a midlife crisis and decided to become a ski instructor. It’d be different if Hugo weren’t so tiny, if girls didn’t think he was adorable like a puppy in a purse and guys didn’t call him “leprechaun” and rub his head for luck. But here he is, the tiny new kid on his first day of middle school.
When his fellow students discover his remarkable talent for garbology, the science of studying trash to tell you anything you could ever want to know about a person, Hugo becomes the cool kid for the first time in his life. But what happens when it all goes to his head?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Irish American rising sixth grader Hugo O'Connell, 11, is used to being picked on and passed over, thanks to his small stature. When he and his parents move from Denver to Creekside, Colo., so his ex-engineer dad can pursue his passion of ski instructing, Hugo hopes he'll have a fresh start, despite his anguish at having to leave his only friends behind. Starting middle school with his affable half-Indian, half-white cousin, Vijay, whose thoughtful inclusion often leaves him feeling coddled ("I love my cousin. But I wish I didn't need a tour guide for my own life"), Hugo builds tentative friendships with Vijay's friends, who are launching a school newsletter, and begins leveraging his unusual skill at garbology—the practice of inferring information about a person from their trash—to help classmates make sports teams, finagle rides from older siblings, and more. With his dad becoming increasingly absent and the arguments between his parents growing more frequent, Hugo leans into his growing popularity to distract himself and take on a bully. Sumner (Tune It Out) renders Hugo's journey toward embracing his strengths and recognizing the power of kindness painfully believable, not shying from his own hurtful and immature behavior as he learns valuable lessons about friendship and family. Ages 10–up.
