Okay for Now

I just finished reading Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt, and I have to be honest it did not hook me quickly but something kept me reading.  I loved Gary Schmidt's first book, Wednesday Wars so I was very excited when the sequel came out. Doug Swieteck now lives in what he calls "The Dump" his new home in Marysville, NY after his family had to move because his father lost his job.  The year is 1968 and I enjoyed throughout the book the connections with NASA and space missions as well as the  connections with Joe Pepitone and New York Yankees. The story is about Doug's life which is not easy and how he has to find his own space in the new town.  His space was not going to be in The Dump where his family struggles with their relationships as well as making ends meet although his mother's love is an endearing part of the story.  His space did not start out to be in his new school where he had a difficult time connecting with other students and teachers; however this ended up being one of my favorite story lines by the end of the book.  He did connect finally to Mr. Powell who works in the public library which is only open on Saturday. Together along with his new friend, Lil Spencer,  they explore the plates of John James Audubon book Birds of America. This part of the story was powerful for me, and I always wanted Doug to go to the library when things were difficult for him.  Finally Doug connected with his Saturday job of delivering groceries using a wagon to different families around the town. I loved this part of the story and Gary Schmidt did an amazing job with beautiful details describing the characters that Doug made deliveries to each Sat.  As I reread my post, and I have had time to think about the book-there were many strong story lines intertwined, and I am sure that is why I kept reading.  I will be interested to see if there will be any Newberry buzz about this book since Gary Schmidt is a past Newberry Honor winner.  We'll have to wait and see........