Messed Up

Book talk: My grandma took off with Hairy and left me with Earl. Earl and me ain't really related, but that's OK. Earl takes pretty good care of me, and he doesn't get upset much when I get suspended from school. This year was going to be easy for me. I'm repeating eighth grade, so all I had to do was show up and stay out of trouble and I would go on to high school next year because of social promotion. But things started getting messed up on the first day of school. I broke up a girl fight between the two colors and got suspended. A new teacher tried to defend me, but everyone at the middle school expects me to be bad, so I got suspended any way. And one of the girls from the fight, Desiree, is all over me like I'm her boyfriend. But show more what really has messed things up for me is that Earl went and died. Now I got to make it on my own, I can't tell anyone about Earl or my grandma being gone or i just know that CPS will come and put me in some home. The best I could hope for is probably some foster home where they take a bunch of foster kids to make some money, and we all get to watch them spend the money on their own kids while we get hand-me-downs. Nope, nobody can know about Earl dying. show less

The first part of this book was tough to read as things went from bad to worse for R.D., a 15-year-old repeating eighth grade who has been left in the care of his grandmother's ex-boyfriend, Earl, until his sudden death. (For a while I thought, here we go again...another story where the kid tries to hide the fact he is on his own and his caregiver is dead.) I was surprised by R.D. and his choices. The characters were varied and interesting. And although it may not have been the most realistic, realistic fiction, ultimately I enjoyed the book.

R.D. is repeating the eighth grade once again. His grandmother has run off with her latest boyfriend, leaving R.D. with Earl, her old boyfriend. R.D. is already labelled as a troublemaker and not very bright. All too often he goes along with all those preconceived notions. It is almost like R.D. has no fight left in him. However, the first day of school, he finds himself trying to stop a fight between two girls. He finds himself wondering why he is doing this. Unfortunately, once the fight is broken up, rather than the Principal thanking him for helping out, R.D. is given detention. Seems like the year is not going to be any different.

R.D. is resigned to same old, same old. He has no goals and seemingly no future. Earl his "grandfather" show more is poor health but he keeps the house clean, does the cooking, laundry and works on cars to pay the bills. R.D. worries about him, but figures Earl will always be there.

However, one evening when R.D. gets home late, he discovers Earl at home in the last moments of life. Everything changes in that moment. Life for R.D. will never be the same.

Lynch, having been a teacher, did a good job in her descriptions of the school staff and the students. Although she may have soften some of the worse students, you could still get a sense of the kind of schooI R.D. attended. I felt as if current readers could relate to the situations in the book even if they themselves were not in this type of circumstance.

I admired the way R.D. would not give up on himself and his lot in life. He kept trying and was fortunate enough to find people along the way who believed in him and helped him find his way. I do believe that you did have to suspend your belief here and there. It is almost too much to believe that a youngster would not have been reported living along by someone sooner than R.D. was. And given that R.D. had never really extended himself before, he actually did some pretty remarkable things to keep himself going. But I like that the author made R.D. willing to take risks and try new things on his own.

Messed Up was a fast read and I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen to R.D. next. I kind of hated for the story to end because I wanted to see more good things happen. Even with all the bad stuff that went on before, there was definitely a light at the end of the tunnel and you had to hope that R. D. would get that brass ring. I think that this would be a good book discussion choice. And I would recommend this novel to anyone who wants a good read and to feel good after they are done. show less

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

R.D. never knew his father, and his mother is in prison. He was raised by his grandmother, but she up and left him with her boyfriend, Earl, so she could run off with a hairy truck driver. R.D. has promised to clean up his act and get through the eighth grade this year for sure, but it's the first day of school and things aren't starting off very well since he's suspended for fighting by lunch time.

Earl tries to keep R.D. out of trouble and encourages him to stick with it at school, but he has some serious health issues dating back to his exposure to Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam. Ever since R.D.'s grandmother left, Earl has been having more frequent attacks that show more leave him gasping for breath and sending R.D. in search of his inhaler. Just a few short weeks into the school year, R.D. gets off the bus and discovers Earl on the bathroom floor, dead.

With no way to contact his grandmother and no one else to turn to, R.D. decides to try to handle things himself. He deals with the funeral home people, handles the questions from nosy neighbors, and manages through trial and error to keep himself fed and the bills paid. Surprisingly, this forced independence turns R.D. into a more reliable student at school and has him learning things about life he never would have thought possible.

MESSED UP by Janet Nichols Lynch is a heart-warming and riveting read. R.D. starts out as an underachieving, gangster wannabe who turns his life around through handwork and determination. Readers will learn right along with him as he deals with the everyday, practical aspects of survival. He learns to shop for groceries and clothes and teaches himself how to cook and clean.

For someone who pretty much let the world just happen around him, he takes on the challenge of making his own way and succeeds. MESSED UP is an excellent addition to any library or classroom collection. show less

Great story about a great character, R.D. who deals with too many problems for a young man.

R.D. is almost 16 years old, and is still in the 8th grade. Every time something goes wrong at school, the Vice Principal assumes it was his fault, so R.D. automatically gets blamed. He’s been suspended so many times for things he really hasn’t done, but doesn’t care. It’s nice not to be at school.

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