This book made me me think a little of Nanny McPhee. It covers some heavy topics, but in a masterful way for young readers. The interactions between Carter and the butler are heart moving. The butler has some great advice, worthy of Nanny McPhee too: “In the midst of great anxiety and great sadness, it takes an honorable man to nourish the goodness around him, small and fragile as it may seem.”

One of the best middle grade books I've ever read! Gary D. Schmidt tells a beautiful story and manages to weave the game of cricket in this wonderful story. This is a must read.

This book was full of surprises. As a read-aloud for fifth grade students, they cheered the hero right to the end.

If you're looking for a book about the sport of cricket, you'll enjoy this latest book by the talented [author:Gary D. Schmidt|96375]. On the first day of school, a butler shows up at the Jones household. There's Carter, his Mom and three younger sisters; Annie, Charlie and Emily. By teaching Carter cricket, the butler helps Carter overcome some tough truths.
Along with cricket fans, those who like heartbreaking and heartwarming family stories will want to give this one a try.
This book was provided to me for free through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In a mere 217 pages, Schmidt has written another masterpiece, this time about a boy named Carter Jones whose family is in crisis when a Butler arrives on their doorstep. The novel starts off light and funny, but soon readers realize that there is more brewing beneath the surface. Schmidt manages to work in some great life advice we should all remember, such as the oft repeated "Make good decisions and remember who you are". My favorite line is one page 118 when the Butler says, "In the midst of great anxiety and great sadness, it takes an honorable man to nourish the goodness around him, small and fragile as it may seem,"which to me, seems to be something to keep in mind these days. I'm certain this book will be in Newbery contention and is highly recommended.

I absolutely love this new book by Gary D Schmidt. The characters are very well written and the story is great. If you want to laugh, cry, and learn a bit about cricket, you will love this book.

Life isn’t easy for Carter Jones. His uncommunicative father is in Germany with the U.S. Army. The family Jeep is breaking down, the family dachshund keeps throwing up, and on top of it all Carter is starting middle school. Worst of all, deep down, his family is still reeling from the death of his little brother a couple of years before.
Things take a turn when a stranger appears on their doorstep—a man in a black suit and a bowler hat holding a huge umbrella. He is Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick, a “gentleman’s gentleman” who has come to serve their family after his former employer, the grandfather they’ve never met, passed away.
The Butler, as Carter refers to him, brings a massive change in their lives. He brings order to the chaos of a mourning mother single-parenting four young children. He uses a different vocabulary, has high expectations of the children, and even teaches Carter and some other middle-schoolers how to play cricket. Each chapter of the book begins with the definition of a term from the game of cricket, terms that also relate to Carter’s life.
Schmidt entertains with humor and wordplay even as he slowly reveals the depths of Carter’s pain, pain that has kept him inward-focused and oblivious to the needs of the rest of his family. Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick helps him pay attention to those he loves and to remember who loves him as things get “sorted.”
At the start, it’s hard not to see the Butler as a male Mary Poppins, swooping in to bring order and happiness. But Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick does not encourage Carter to stay a child with magical flights of fancy; instead he pushes Carter to take an active role in his own life and supports him in becoming a strong and sensitive young man amidst the hard realities of his life. Possibly taking a cue from Reformed philosopher James K.A. Smith, Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick says, “We are what we love, young Master Carter.”
Pay Attention Carter Jones is a witty and compelling novel for middle readers that will appeal to many adults as well. Ages 10 and up. (Clarion)

Gary D. Schmidt's books break my heart in the best possible way. The plot here is a simple one, without a lot of complication. A good portion of it's beauty is in that simplicity. A fair amount of the text is actually dedicated to the playing of cricket and the use of technical terms. But all of that build up pays off in the central metaphor: finding your way to growing up. If there would otherwise be any ambiguity for the reader that is cleared up with the repeated refrain "remember who you are" which we can of course understand to me "remember the kind of person you want to be." If the characters weren't so well presented that sort of obvious lesson would be a blunt instrument but the charm of the writing covers that.
As a bonus, fans of Schmidt's prior books will recognize many teachers and neighbors as previous central characters (an occurrence that never failed to make me smile).

My thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group/Clarion Books for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

I am personally very disappointed in this book because I read Orbiting Jupiter by the same author of this book and LOVED it. Like I cried, practically push it onto all of my customers and friends and family, etc.

So when I saw this book available on NetGalley to request, I was ALL over it. And then when I was approved, such joy!

Then I picked up the book and started to read.

Now, to be fair, I am currently going through a HORRIBLE book slump. As in, nothing new I pick up is grabbing me, so I need to pick up an Ole' Faithful to get myself out of it. So my reaction to this book may be in part due to my current book slump status.

Warning, some spoilers follow this point.

That being said, I can't get behind a mother letting the Butler teach her 12 year old son to drive and then ALLOWING him to drive with her, his siblings, etc. in the car. The Butler was always present, at least as far as I could tell, but SERIOUSLY?!? In a rural area, I can understand, kids start driving tractors and whatnot earlier than cars in urban and suburban areas, but while this story took place in Upstate NY, it was a suburb, NOT a rural area.

And it was a Bentley. Not many ADULTS get to even SEE one let alone DRIVE one in their lifetime. And yet this 12 year old kid is DRIVING it. Yeah, not buying it.

The subplots of the dead brother and the scumbag abandoning father are really kind of serious for this book where the Butler is like a male Mary Poppins. Not bad, just an odd combination.

And lets not even get STARTED on the cricket. My eyes were rolling in the back of my head. I just couldn't follow it and honestly, it was so confusing, didn't really want to. I am not by any stretch of the imagination an athlete and while I follow some sports, I have no idea of many of the rules, I just watch for fun, not to rules lawyer. So the cricket aspect of the book bored me to tears. I also don't think that the entire town would have gone ga-ga for it.

Sorry if I sound like a grump. While I couldn't get behind the storyline, I really did enjoy the writing. So well written book, set in contemporary NY, with some flights of fancy and LOTS of cricket. Not a good match for me, but I can see me suggesting this book to appropriate customers at my store.

2.5 stars, rounded up because I still love the author for Orbiting Jupiter.

A butler, a cricket match, and middle school – even if you throw in a purple Bentley – doesn’t sound like a promising start for a page turning book, but then there is Gary Schmidt. The stage is set in the first paragraph, “If it hadn’t been the first day of school, and if my mother hadn’t been crying her eyes out the night before, and if the fuel pump on the Jeep had been doing what a fuel pump on a Jeep is supposed to be doing, and if it hadn’t been raining like an Australian tropical thunderstorm—and I’ve been in one, so I know what it’s like—and if the very last quart of half percent milk hadn’t gone sour and clumped up, then probably my mother would never have let the Butler into our house.”

In a manner of speaking, the “gentleman’s gentleman” as he prefers to be called, is an inheritance from Sam’s grandfather who has recently died. The first couple of chapters abound with wit. For example, Mr. Bowler-Fitzpatrick illegally teaches the middle-schooler to drive the Bentley that Sam calls the “Eggplant” with the instructions, “If you continue turning in that direction, young Master Jones, you will reposition the row of hostas.”

Then the heart of the story kicks in with Sam’s father in Germany - distant emotionally as well as physically, his frenemy Billy Colt, the memory that keeps cropping up of a dead brother, and his responsibilities to his mother and younger sisters. When the butler adds his demands for proper speech and behavior, Sam responds that living like a civilized person is a “pain in the glutes.”

Chapter headings are followed by a line with cricket rules, definitions, and hints. When sister Emily pronounces cricket boring, the butler replies, “Only a dullard would believe such a thing.” Well, he had me there. Even if you share my opinion that cricket may be the dullest sport known to humankind, the book is a treat. The butler probably wouldn’t approve of my inelegant description but both he and the book’s humor are a hoot and give a lift to the pain that is the heart of the book. If you’re not in middle school, go ahead and read the book. It will all come back to you.

I am a big Gary Schmidt fan which is why I requested this book but I have always felt that his books have much more appeal for adults than teens. Despite that, there have always been a few students who get into his work and are able to grasp some of the deeper themes in his writing. I just don't see this being one of those books. There is SO MUCH cricket! Why is there so much about a sport that will not be familiar to most Americans, teens in particular? If the butler had just had Carter play it as part of the story that might've been okay, but a knowledge of the play by play is necessary to follow so many of the passages. Then there is the typical formal phrasing we usually get from Schmidt and the reveal of what is really happening with Dad which is supposed to be emotional but since I was not invested in the story or Carter's relationship with his dad, it all just fell very flat. There are lots of books I read that I do not care for personally but that I can still sell to my students. This is not a title I would even purchase for my library because I don't see any audience for it.

I love Gary Schmidt’s writing and character development . Carter Jones father is in the army and on deployment. His wife and four kids are home struggling to get through each day. One morning, there is a knock on the door and there stands a Butler who says he’s been sent to help them. Combining cricket, the Australian countryside, the Butler, and grief, Schmidt creates a cute and endearing story of healing.

Carter Jones has no idea how much his life is going to change when a butler who has worked for his extended family in Great Britain comes to work for his family. His father is deployed so the extra help is good - especially since his mother still hasn't really come to terms with the death of Carter's brother Currier. But a British butler, or gentleman's gentleman takes some getting used to... especially when he introduces Carter and his friends to Cricket.
This was a decent story especially as Carter comes to realize what is going on with his dad. Carter and the butler's friendship is really sweet. The issue for us American readers will be the cricket rules, references, and play action.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy from a favorite author. A lot of heart and humor are mixed into this story. An English butler shows up on the doorstep of Carter’s family in NY (dad is deployed in Europe) and proceeds to run the household with proper British standards, including teaching Carter and his friend to play cricket. Missing his father as well as a younger brother who died, Carter doesn’t take to Butler right away, but learns a lot from him and more about himself. All done with a light hand and easily kept my attention (though still not completely clear on how cricket works).

Like all of Gary D. Schmidt's books, you get hit in the feels. Our narrator, Carter, has a lot to deal with for such a young kid, and there are a few points that might move you to tears. There is also humor (another Schmidt hallmark), complex adult characters, and sports references. I am absolutely clueless about cricket and I was a little lost during the matches, but it was still a fun read. I give it four stars because I just didn't feel like I connected with it like I usually do Schmidt's books, but I also read it very quickly because I was eager to find out the outcome. I will probably try to listen to the audio when the book is released.

This book is so good! It is heavy: Carter’s youngest sibling has died, and we learn of marital infidelity from a child’s point of view. But as always, Schmidt handles it deftly. He uses the rules of cricket at the beginning of each chapter as an anchor for the action. Reviewers are not supposed to quote from advanced copies, which hurts because there are so many great lines in this book. Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick is a Mary Poppins character who knows just what to say and what to do at the exact right time without being mushy. I love this book so much that I will preorder so that I can add it to my library the day it is published.
………………….
Fans of Gary D. Schmidt’s other books or Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff will like this book.

I couldn't really relate to this story. It felt kind of unorganized and confusing at times. At the beginning of the story I thought it was taking place in Australia. There wasn't very clear separation between the past and present.

Inheriting a butler when you live in a small town in New York State is probably not high on any middle schoolboy's list of desires, but that's what happens to Carter at the outset of this amusing and unexpectedly touching story.

Though I still don't understand cricket, I am happy to report that the novel is perfectly enjoyable even so. Schmidt excels in depicting young men coming to a fuller understanding of their place in the world and developing relationships and a moral code while maintaining a light, comical tone that is thoroughly engaging.

Gary Schmidt is a master at writing about what matters, and I have been floored by every book I have read by him. In Pay Attention, Carter Jones, tragedies threaten to unravel the lives of a family until a cricket-loving butler shows up on their doorstep with very defined ideas of honor and opinions about almost everything else, and he reminds them what needs paying attention to. The eldest child of the family, Carter Jones, a sixth grader, narrates this story.

Things are a bit chaotic in the Jones house at 7:15 am on the first day of school. When the doorbell rings, Carter finds that they have been sent a butler. Grandpa Jones in England has died and left enough money for his gentleman's gentleman to come serve their family in America. Carter's dad is in the military and stationed in Germany so it is just him, his mom and three sisters. Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick quickly gets the family settled in to a new routine. This routine includes figuring out who each of them are and making good choices. The butler spends a lot of time working on Carter. This also entails teaching him the game of cricket. Soon there is a cricket team at the school and Carter and his friend are the only sixth graders playing with the eighth grade.

Throughout the story we also get flashbacks to a camping trip Carter and his father took in Australia. We also find out that Carter's little brother died a couple of years ago when the father was deployed. Then we learn the father is not planning on coming back from Germany where he has found himself a new family. With the butler's help, Carter learns to deal with his feelings of anger and resentment towards his father.

I actually loved the characters of Carter and the butler. They were fantastic and their interactions won my heart. However, there is a lot of cricket in this book which most American readers will not have any knowledge of. I would recommend watching a video on the rules of cricket which I unfortunately did after finishing the book. I really wish I would have watched it as soon as cricket was brought up because I would have understood those passages of the book much better.

Other than the cricket, the only real thing that bothered me about the book was the fact that Carter is 12 and the butler let him drive his car. Not only did he let him drive the car, but he let him drive with his younger sisters in the car. I think there was also a few times when there wasn't even an adult in the car. Not only is this illegal it is highly irresponsible which did not fit in with everything else the butler did. I get that he was probably trying to instill confidence in Carter but it seemed a strange was to do it.