Thank you to Andersen Press for this advanced reader's copy. It's the first day of 6th Grade for Carter Jones and it's pouring rain outside. His sisters are causing mayhem and his mother is overworked. His father is deployed overseas in the U.S. military, so times are stressful. That's why Carter is shocked to hear the doorbell ring just before he's off to school to see a butler standing on his doorstep. The Butler, or Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick as he asks to be called, has been sent to Carter's house on the request of Carter's late grandfather. Carter is as confused as we'd all be to have this happen, especially when The Butler politely demands that Carter walk their dog Ned as soon as he gets home, do his homework and speak proper grammar. He also ensures Carter looks after his sisters and help his mother with the washing up, cooking and cleaning. Carter knows these are things he should be doing, but always found time to do other things like eat cereal and "crash". Now he's got a butler making sure he does them on a daily basis. That's not all, The Butler introduces Carter to the game of cricket, and soon it's not just Carter who is playing, it's everyone at his Middle School. Carter eventually learns to love the game and with The Butler's help, starts to come to terms with his father's absence and the death of his brother. This book hit me hard, I lost my brother recently and it has been a huge blow to my family. Reading the passages that deal with this, how Carter learns to keep going despite knowing his life will never be the same, was like a punch to the guts. It's very true, what Carter goes through, some days you think you're going to be alright and then you see something or hear a song or whatever and you are laid low. It's comforting to know that even a fictional character can stand up to this kind of thing. I've always loved Gary D. Schmidt's writing, there's always a lot of humour and a lot of laughs. It's a wonderful novel with both of these things and it helped quite a lot.
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