This is a great story! I love stories of people who figure out how to not just survive, but succeed in life despite everything being against them. The author (who is Canadian!) says this was a very personal story and that he also grew up in poverty. I was left wondering how much of it was directly from his life and how much he made up and who is the girl?! Is she a real person? It sounds like she is, from the afterward.
In some ways, we're all the underdog and this story inspires me to think I can do anything!
I recently heard it won a 2021 Govenor General's Award for Young People's Literature.
Goodreads says:
★ "Tug at the heartstrings and tickle the funny bone...This warm tale is definitely one for the keeper shelves. Highly recommended."--School Library Journal, starred review
Thirteen-year-old Robbie leads a double life. It's just Robbie and his dad, but no one knows that his dad isn't like most parents. Sometimes he wakes Robbie up in the middle of the night to talk about dying. Sometimes he just leaves without telling Robbie where he's going. Once when Robbie was younger, he was gone for more than a week. Robbie was terrified of being left alone but even more scared of telling anyone in case he was put into foster care. No one can know. Until one day when Robbie has to show the tough new girl, Harmony, around school. Their first meeting ends horribly and she punches Robbie in the face. But eventually they come to realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought. Can Robbie's new friend be trusted to keep his secret?
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