Rate this book

If Jack's In Love (2011)

by Stephen Wetta(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0399157522 (ISBN13: 9780399157523)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Putnam Adult

review 1: I’m a sucker for a childhood romance. The innocence, sincerity, and sweetness of a little boy in love reels me in every time, and it happened again when I found Stephen Wetta’s If Jack’s In Love at the library.Twelve-year-old Jack is in love with Myra and he is desperate to kiss her, but there are a few obstacles. The biggest one is the fact that he is the youngest member of the most hated family in town, the Witchers. They are poor, his father rarely works, his brother is a sadistic long-haired, pot-smoking hippie, his mother is just plain ugly, his dad threatens to beat up the neighbors, and at the moment they have “Trash” spray painted on the side of their house.When Jack befriends Mr. Gladstein, the strange man that owns the local jewelry store, things start ... moreto change. Mr. Gladstein gives Jack some tips and a bit of cheap jewelry and Jack finds the confidence to talk to Myra. Just as things start looking up for Jack and Myra, Myra’s older brother goes missing. The number one suspect in his disappearance: Jack’s older brother, and no one is more sure than Jack that his brother is responsible. Life continues to spiral downhill for Jack, who wants nothing more than to prove to the world (and especially Myra) that the only thing he has in common with his dreadful family is his name.I loved this book. Jack is such a thoughtful, determined, and smart kid struggling to overcome problems he did nothing to create. The characters are all wonderful, the storyline is unique and captivating – I definitely recommend this to anyone, especially fellow suckers for kids in love.
review 2: I loved reading this funny book, set in 1967 suburban Virginia, and everybody in it, even the nasty people doing and saying awful things. The Witcher lawn is littered with junk, there are screens missing from the windows, and the family car is a bit of a hoopty. The Witchers are ostracized by their judgmental better-to-do neighbors, and their standing plummets further when the elder Witcher son Stan is implicated in murder. The main character, younger son Jack, is an honest, straight A student whose only friend (after being abandoned by fellow social pariah Dickie Pudding) is the town's 50 year old Jewish jeweler. In the author's notes Wetta explains, "The (Witchers) of the world serve a cautionary purpose. There's something sacrificial about them. They perform a social function. They set a bottom, a defining limit, to what we dread and fear about ourselves, and reassure us that we haven't reached it yet." less

Download links for: If Jack's in Love

Advertising