Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2011
When Jack is sent to Hazelwood, Iowa, to live with his strange aunt and uncle, he expects a summer of boredom. Little does he know that the people of Hazelwood have been waiting for him for quite a long time. When he arrives, he begins to make actual friends for the first time in his life-but the town bully beats him up and the richest man in town begins to plot Jack’s imminent, and hopefully painful, demise. It’s up to Jack to figure out why suddenly everyone cares so much about him. Back home he was practically… invisible. The Mostly True Story of Jack is a novel about things broken, things put back together, and finding a place to belong.
Kelly says…
I had no idea what I was doing when I was writing this book. No idea. My kids were little, I only wrote really really early in the morning (between four and six AM, before the kids woke up) I had never been in a writing group, I had no idea how the industry worked – other than it made books sometimes – and I hadn’t been in any kind of formal writing class since I was in college. I wrote a lot and read a lot, but still, I blundered through the dark.
When I started Jack’s story, I didn’t know if I was writing a short story or a poem or what. All I knew was that I had an image in my head of a boy sitting in the back seat of a rental car with a sketch book on his lap, driving across Iowa. And he was the loneliest boy I had ever seen in my life. And I just wanted to write him a place to belong. I didn’t know that I was writing a book. I didn’t know that book would be for children. I didn’t know that it would have magic in it (that came later!). I didn’t know that I would spend the next year learning about botany and magical systems building and what trauma does to the brain and agriculture, arborculture and pomology. All I knew was that I really loved this boy named Jack, and I really wanted to help write his way home.
Reviews:
“Truly splendid…the ultimate page-turner.”
— Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Suspense builds steadily, with twists and surprises woven throughout, and friendship emerges as a powerful theme….Barnhill explores the struggle between good and evil and the power of love and sacrifice, creating a provocative and highly original mystery.”
— Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Wonderful in the best possible way: filled with wonders and magic, yes, but magic that is ancient, numinous, and tied to the natural world…Barnhill’s first novel for children is a marvel of both plotting and characterization, and it provides a foundation for the omnipresent magic that elevates this title to the first rank of contemporary children’s literature.”
— Booklist, starred review