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School Library Journal
Reviewed on September 1, 2004
Gr 8-Up Luther's mother, "the Sarge," runs an empire of Flint, MI, slums and halfway houses, and has a loan-sharking business. At age 15, Luther manages one of her halfway houses, drives the residents around in a van with an illegal license, and readies the homes of evicted tenants for the Sarge's next desperate victims. In exchange, she puts his earnings in a college fund, threatens him into submission, and primes him to take over the business. All Luther wants to do is win the school science fair, think deep thoughts, find some ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More
Horn Book Magazine
Reviewed on September 1, 2004
Curtis's (The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963; Bud, Not Buddy) latest novel is set in contemporary Flint, Michigan; his protagonist, Luther T. Farrell, is fifteen going on thirty. By the time Luther turned twelve, his mother, a thoroughly unscrupulous loan shark, slumlord, and scam artist known as the Sarge, had obtained for him an illegal driver's license and installed him as caretaker at a group home for elderly men. Between dishing out ramen ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More