Sorry You're Lost

November 4, 2013
Blackstone (A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie) returns with a humorous and graceful novel about seventh-grader Denny Murphy, who is trying to keep it together in the aftermath of his mother’s death. The narrative opens with Denny’s mother’s funeral, where Denny can only focus on the priest’s pathetic speech and his own underperforming deodorant, then picks up several months later, with Denny acting out wildly at school. The title refers to a misspelled note of condolence that Denny receives, but it also accurately reflects his state of being, as he flounders with his withdrawn father and his peers. The novel’s middle-school dynamics are particularly strong, especially Denny’s relationships with his oddball and entrepreneurial best friend Manny—who talks like an aristocrat and cons Denny into selling candy in the halls—and Denny’s crush, the studious Sabrina. Denny and his father’s inability to communicate, despite their shared loss, lends a stark and raw tension that eventually boils to the surface in this poignant account of a boy grappling with a gaping void in his life. Ages 10–14. Agent: Michelle Andelman, Regal Literary.

December 1, 2013
After his mother's death from cancer, New Jersey seventh-grader Denny "Donuts" Murphy's carefully crafted clown persona gets him in trouble at school without easing his grief. As a distraction, his best (and only) friend, Manny, enlists him in a candy-sales scheme to make enough money to hire helicopters or whatever it might take to entice eighth-grade "hotties" to accompany them to the spring dance. But Denny would prefer classmate Sabrina, who seems to like him. Further complicating this story of healing-in-progress is the boy's 300-pound father's withdrawal. Both father and son are lost in their personal miseries--a point underscored with references to Les Miserables. The first-person narration chronicles six months of madcap behavior, flights of fancy and flashbacks revealing the reasons behind Denny's downward spiral and predictable meltdown. The boys' freedom to roam the halls of Blueberry Hills Middle School (limited only by encounters with a villainous eighth-grader) is surprising, but otherwise the school setting will be familiar, populated by some sympathetic adult characters as well as some less attractive ones. While some readers may tire of Denny's frenetic goings-on, others, like Sabrina, will watch and wait patiently. They will be pleased by the improbable outcome. For middle school readers, a painful, funny and realistic picture of a family coming to terms with loss. (Fiction. 11-15)

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February 1, 2014

Gr 6-8-Denny "Donuts" Murphy is a champion pretender. He is a whiz at feigning that he and his father have a great relationship, that he is content to be the class clown, that he doesn't worry about others' opinions of him, but most of all, he is gifted at pretending that his mother is still alive. To this end, Donuts even carries her old cell phone and "talks" to her when he needs a sounding board. Manny, Donuts' self-involved best friend, is neglected by his own mother and father and has taken to grieving the death of Mrs. Murphy as his own parental loss. Craving an all-encompassing distraction, Donuts lets Manny talk him into a candy-selling scheme designed to help the boys score dates for the upcoming seventh grade dance. The plan spins out of control, but through quick wit and innate charm, Donuts ends up coming out on top. Although the plot begins slowly, Blackstone manages to craft true-to-life characters who eventually work through their demons with their sense of self wholly intact. Readers looking for a modern tale about fitting in need look no further.-Colleen S. Banick, Westport Public Schools, CT

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
Grades 6-9 Eleven-year-old wiseass Denny is a class clown, pretending to surf on desks, wittily mouthing off to his teachers, and becoming the butt of every joke. But Denny's life is far from funnyhis mom died four months ago, and his dad is hiding from the world, spending his time eating fried chicken, watching TV, and avoiding talking to Denny. So when his best friend Manny comes up with a scheme that will distract him from his painful existence and rake in some cold hard cash, Denny is solidly on board. Together, Denny and Mannywalking a fine line between charmingly guileless and infuriatingly cluelesssell candy to their fellow middle-school students to ensure their popularity (or compatibility quotient ) and their ability to score dates for the dance. Blackstone (A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie, 2011) has crafted compelling, believable characters here: Denny's father's life-arresting grief is palpable, and Denny's painful battle between playing manically happy and being truly vulnerablerendered in frantic, anxiety-filled run-on sentencesis nothing short of heartbreakingly authentic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)