Just Juice

This year, Juice Faulstich is back again in Miss Hamble's third grade class. Letters and numbers still don't make sense to her. But when an important letter comes to the family, someone's got to read it and break the news to Ma and Pa. Smack in the middle of this brood is the narrator, 9-year-old Juice Faulstich, a sweet, resilient tomboy who likes to explore and learn. She gets along well with her big and little sisters, has talent as an apprentice metalworker in her Pa's makeshift shop, and forgets every worry when she's dancing to fiddle music. She's so capable, in fact, she's the family member all the little ones look up to the most. Yet it turns out that the highly skilled Juice, who can handle everything from power tools to her show more Pa's depression ("We all look out for him. But I look out for him best, even Ma says so") is plagued by an inability to understand letters and reading. "No one believes me. No one believes how hard I try. No matter what I do, it's never enough," she explains.
Realizing that her father's lack of work has endangered her family, nine-year-old Juice decides that she must return to school and learn to read in order to help their chances of surviving and keeping their house. show less

Nine-year-old Justice, who everyone calls "Juice," is having a hard time. She can't read, so school is hard, so she usually just skips and stays home with her out-of-work father - who is also illiterate. Her mother is a diabetic, and is pregnant with a fifth child. Justice is the second of the four girls they already have. They are so poor, they struggle to have enough to eat, and to make matters worse, because they haven't been able to pay their property taxes in over two years, the government is likely taking their home. Juice guides her depressed and inadequate-feeling father to a path where he might be able to save at least some things, but by doing so, she is skipping school even more. And her mother, the more competent parent, has show more been kept in the dark about the tax issue, so she wouldn't worry so much that the baby she is carrying might suffer.
A very quick read, this book never feels as depressing as the plot description makes it sound. The sisters are mainly background characters, as the likable, but sad Juice, carrying the weight of the family on her shoulders, tells the story. show less

Short and simple, but well written. This is a great example of an author who works from a child's viewpoint and sees life through their eyes. "Miss Hamble says some of us are wired up different inside our brains. You and me, we just have a different kind of wiring." The suggestion of a learning difference with a biological etiology is made, but the word dyslexia is never spoken. This book does a good job of showing the shame people can feel and the work they put into hiding their differences.

When I find an author I like, I try to read as many of his/her books as possible. Out of the Dust is one of my favorite Newbery award winning books. That book was set in the time period of the dust bowl and I was most impressed with Hesses' depiction of this historical event told from the perspective of a young girl.

Once again in Just Juice the author tells a tale of poverty through the eyes of a young girl struggling to hold the family together.

Juice and her family live in abject, hopeless, wretched poverty. The father is unable to hold a job; the mother relies way too heavily on Juice; the children lack food, clothing and security.

Worried about her father's sad moods, Juice refuses to go to school. In addition, she is weary of trying show more to learn letters and words that simply don't make sense to her. She cannot read and comprehension is almost impossible.

She learns the secret that her father cannot read when she discovers that their ramshackle home will be taken away because her father did not heed notices about delinquent back taxes.

Hesse understands poverty and the mind and soul numbing challenge of facing one more day of ridicule and despair. I liken her to an American version of Charles Dickens.

Recommended.

Four Stars show less

Letters and numbers still don't make sense to Juice Faulstich. She'd rather skip school and spend the day at home in the North Carolina hills, anyway. But when the bank threatens to repossess her family's home, Juice faces her first life-sized problem. Just Juice is a book with many different levels to the story. Ultimately, her siblings tried to help her learn how to read and they agree that all the kids must go to school.This book a good starting point for discussing learning disabilities and what we can do to help ourselves and others overcome them, or manage them. This book would fit in well with a text-set on learning disabilities.

This book details the economic struggles Juice's family works to overcome as well as her personal academic struggles. I would read this book to my class to let them know that it is okay to struggle in both life and school and that with hard work and perserverance, you can overcome just about anything. I enjoyed reading this book as a kid, but reading it as a future teacher gave me a different perspective and insight that I did not previously have.

This is a great story about a great close knitted family going though trials and tribulations with living in poverty. Juice takes you through her everyday life trying to help pa with work, and avoiding going to school. I loved this book because it shows you that no matter how hard life is, you always have your family!