New Customer Review - Okay For Now

Okay for Now
by Gary Schmidt [j Schmidt]

Doug Swieteck doesn't care if you like him. He's just a loser kid from stupid Marysville in upstate New York. Doug first appeared as a secondary character in Wednesday Wars, for which author Gary Schmidt won a Newbery Honor. Now Doug is back as the main character in Okay for Now, the book I'm reviewing here. Both books feature disappointing fathers, antagonistic teachers who later turn out to be caring adults with some emotional baggage, and pretty girls who become love interests. In both books too, the Vietnam War serves as a backdrop. One big difference, which incidentally is one of my favorite parts of Okay for Now, are the Audubon plates of birds. At first, Doug thinks everything is stupid and likes to sarcastically throw around the word terrific, which makes him kind of hard to stomach. Then Doug sees those Audubon plates, six of which have been sold from the library's otherwise pristine copy of Birds of America to folks with the money to afford them, and his world slowly begins to change. Both of Doug's parents are around, although in the case of Doug's dad you have to wonder in the case of his dad how great that is. When in the middle of a conversation with him, his dad cuts him off. About that reaction, Doug says, "That's all I got out. My father's hands are quick. That's the kind of guy he is." His mom is a different story. Some of the funniest and sweetest moments come from those shared between Doug and his mom. Unfortunately, a few days before Washington Irving Junior High started, the local deli was broken into and Doug's brother was blamed. The geography teacher pauses before handing over a copy of a brand new textbook. The world history teacher announces they're going to start studying barbarian hordes and looks at Doug. And so the list continues until Doug meets his science teacher. Mr. Ferris tells him that the basic principle of physical science is: "Two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time." Loosely translated this means: Doug Swieteck is not his brother. Now if you think that for the rest of the school year all the other teachers ostracizes Doug, think again. Gary Schmidt is much too smart of an author to resort to cliché characters. That's why one part of Okay for Now disappointed me: the ending. Without telling you how, let me say that Schmidt made the mistake some authors do of needing to wrap up every last loose end. Moreover, those loose ends were turned into happy ones. Yet, for everything else that I loved about Okay for Now, I'm still recommending it. -- review submitted by Allison H.-F. - a customer of the Bennett Martin Public Library

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