One Kid's Trash

July 1, 2021
Grades 4-6 A chance to be "cool in school" sends a sixth-grader down a slippery slope in this snowy tale set in the Colorado Rockies. Being smaller than nearly everyone since his premature birth, Hugo is fed up with years of invisibility or, worse, head pats for luck. So when it gets out at his new middle school that he has a startling knack for extracting personal information from people's garbage, he grabs the chance at notoriety with both hands. But fame comes at the cost of hurting both his supportive cousin and classmate, Vijay, and his tightly wound new friend, Emilia. In a secondary plot that's also about second chances, ominous signs of parental friction continue even after Hugo's dad leaves his job in IT to pursue a dream of being a ski instructor, but in the end, they turn out to be less significant than they seem. Sumner (Roll with It, 2019) winningly explores themes of acceptance and physical and emotional vulnerabilities.

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August 2, 2021
Irish American rising sixth grader Hugo O’Connell, 11, is used to being picked on and passed over, thanks to his small stature. When he and his parents move from Denver to Creekside, Colo., so his ex-engineer dad can pursue his passion of ski instructing, Hugo hopes he’ll have a fresh start, despite his anguish at having to leave his only friends behind. Starting middle school with his affable half-Indian, half-white cousin, Vijay, whose thoughtful inclusion often leaves him feeling coddled (“I love my cousin. But I wish I didn’t need a tour guide for my own life”), Hugo builds tentative friendships with Vijay’s friends, who are launching a school newsletter, and begins leveraging his unusual skill at garbology—the practice of inferring information about a person from their trash—to help classmates make sports teams, finagle rides from older siblings, and more. With his dad becoming increasingly absent and the arguments between his parents growing more frequent, Hugo leans into his growing popularity to distract himself and take on a bully. Sumner (Tune It Out) renders Hugo’s journey toward embracing his strengths and recognizing the power of kindness painfully believable, not shying from his own hurtful and immature behavior as he learns valuable lessons about friendship and family. Ages 10–up.

Starred review from July 1, 2021
Hugo is an only child who has been bullied his whole life because he is small; will his passion for Garbology protect him at his new school? Eleven-year-old Hugo O'Connell has just moved to the mountains, closer to the Colorado ski resorts where his dad works long hours. Luckily, his cousin Vijay O'Connell will show him around. (The O'Connells are Irish Catholic; Vij's mom, Hugo's Aunt Soniah, is cued as Indian.) Hugo has been called every diminutive name in the book. Observant and smart, his watchful eye keeps him away from most trouble, except when class bully Chance Sullivan is involved. But Hugo's powers of perception have gained him notoriety for studying the contents of garbage cans, a fascinating subject called Garbology. The story's rich settings are vividly described: the sweaty smell of locker rooms, sparkling ski slopes, and chaotic cafeterias. Sumner perfectly captures the fickle nature of middle school social status and the gnawing pain of betrayal. With the self-deprecation of a tormented tween, Hugo expresses what he learns about friendship, honesty, and the bitter pill of revenge, for which Hugo and his friends who work on the school newsletter must pay serious consequences. This is a strong work about finding your people, learning to apologize, and the rewards of self-respect. The pitch-perfect voice and everyday bravery of this middle school survivor are not to be missed. (Fiction. 10-13)

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