about the book
Fourteen-year-old Doug Swieteck seems to have life’s odds stacked against him—he has no friends, a lousy older brother, and has been marked as a “skinny thug” by his teachers and the police of his newest school and town.
Then Doug meets Lil Spencer, a feisty girl who smells like daisies to him. Together they retreat and find refuge in the library, where Doug can escape from his abusive father, the suspicions of his neighborhood, and his scarred older brother’s return.
In the library, Doug and Lil delight in John James Audubon’s bird plates and become roped into an adventure on Broadway. Their friendship deepens, and maybe even goes beyond friendship…
But when Doug’s older brother begins making trouble, Doug’s advances in the social sphere are put to the test.
about the author
Born in Hicksville, New York, Gary D. Schmidt was a quiet, untrendy kid who was the only Baptist in a school of Catholics and Jews, and he found his classmates interesting.
Gary lived for summer camp, working his way up to camp director. The best part of camp was a local bookstore, where he could buy a book for eight cents!
Gary earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Gordon College, and a master’s in English and a PhD in Medieval Literature from the University of Illinois. While working on his dissertation, he decided he needed a break—so he wrote the first page of a children’s novel. That novel was never published, but it started him on the path to become an award-winning author. Two of his books have won Newbery Honors.
Gary is currently a professor of English at Calvin College in Michigan. A successful battle with lymphatic cancer shaped his writing career. He takes two distinct paths—writing academically and writing creatively.
Gary lives on a farm in Alto, Michigan, with his wife and six children. Spare time is spent vegetable gardening, cutting and splitting wood (a good time to think about plots and characters), and collecting first editions.
Sources:
Author biography: Calvin College
Author biography: Wikipedia
Author discusses Okay For Now
Author video interview
Book trailer: Okay For Now
Also by Gary D. Schmidt:
Orbiting Jupiter. Clarion. November 2015.
What Came from the Stars. Clarion. 2012.
Okay For Now. Clarion. 2011.
Trouble. Clarion. 2008.
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. Clarion. 2004.
Straw Into Gold. Clarion. 2001.
Anson’s Way. Clarion. 1999.
read more!
Antsy Does Time (Antsy Bonano Novels, Book 2) by Neal Shusterman
Antsy’s high school friend Gunnar announces that he has only six months to live. In a friendly spirit, Antsy contracts one month of his life to Gunnar, and it is so popular that other kids and even the teachers at their school begin filling out the forms. Then Antsy learns that Gunnar isn’t even sick! Antsy suspects Gunnar’s family problems to be the cause of this shocking lie.
Silhouetted by the Blue by Traci L. Jones
Still grieving her mother’s sudden death in an automobile accident, Serena struggles to keep things together as she deals with her dad’s deepening depression, day-to-day household chores, mounting homework, a difficult younger brother, and her challenging role as female lead in the school play.
Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
While the rest of his class goes to religious instruction every Wednesday afternoon, Holling Hoodhood, being neither Catholic nor Jewish, must spend that time with his teacher—alone. Holling thinks that Mrs. Baker doesn’t like him, but when she makes him read Shakespeare plays, he is sure that she hates him.