Saturday Boy

David Fleming

Hardcover

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Nominee:Great Stone Face Book Award -Grades 4-6 (2015)

Nominee:Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award -Children's (2015)

If there's one thing I've learned from comic books, it's that everybody has a weakness--something that can totally ruin their day without fail.

For the wolfman it's a silver bullet. For Superman it's Kryptonite. For me it was a letter.

With one letter, my dad was sent back to Afghanistan to fly Apache helicopters for the U.S. army.

Now all I have are his letters. Ninety-one of them to be exact. I keep them in his old plastic lunchbox--the one with the cool black car on it that says Knight Rider underneath. Apart from my comic books, Dad's letters are the only things I read more than once. I know which ones to read when I'm down and need a pick-me-up. I know which ones will make me feel like I can conquer the world. I also know exactly where to go when I forget Mom's birthday. No matter what, each letter always says exactly what I need to hear. But what I want to hear the most is that my dad is coming home.

Book Details

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: Jun 13rd, 2013
Pages: 272
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 8.40in - 5.80in - 1.10in - 0.85lb
EAN: 9780670785513
Recommended age: 10-UP
Categories: • Family - Parents• Historical - Military & Wars• Social Themes - Death, Grief, Bereavement

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About the Author

David Fleming lives in the woods in Weston, Massachusetts, with his wife and two willful, boisterous sons. He graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in English dramatic literature and theater and now works for a landscape designer. When the ground is frozen, he writes. He has been published in Monkeybicycle, Stuff Magazine, and Wellesley/Weston Magazine and at beattoapulp.com. The Saturday Boy is his first novel.

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Praise for this book

Praise for THE SATURDAY BOY by David Fleming:

"The Saturday Boy is funny and poignant, sometimes at the same time, the way life is." --Sara Pennypacker, New York Times Bestselling author of the Clementine series and Summer of the Gypsy Moths

"Fleming reminds us of the immeasurable value of a handwritten letter, how this tangible connection becomes something we can hang on to, for as long as we need it." --Suzanne LaFleur, author of Love, Aubrey and Eight Keys

"Debut novelist Fleming ably limns Derek's manic, Joey Pigza-styled interior life with a light hand, capturing the humorous aspects of the boy's self-perpetuating problems." --BCCB, starred review

"[A] tender portrait of a boy under stress." --Kirkus Reviews

"Fleming has done a superb job of not only making the characters believable, but also of keeping an underlying tension in the story. Children with parents who are deployed will find a kindred soul in Derek, and other readers will come to better understand what it's like for them." --School Library Journal

"Fleming's debut skillfully depicts how the stresses of loss and other forces beyond one's control test the bonds of family and friends." --Publishers Weekly

"...children whose lives are similar to Derek's will identify with the confusion and isolation of war and find a comrade here." --Horn Book