Under normal circumstances, you might not let a man claiming to be a butler into your house, but when it’s raining like an Australian tropical thunderstorm and one sister is crying because the dog threw up on her only yellow sock, and your other sister is calling her a bully, and your other sister has no milk for her Ace Robotroid Sugar Stars—a butler turns out to be pretty handy. Carter Jones is about to discover how handy—and sometimes annoying—a butler can be. When his grandfather passed away, he left an endowment to continue the services of said butler to the family. Carter’s dad is deployed in Germany, so this cricket-loving butler is sent to help out Carter’s mom in upstate New York.

Like a fine pastry chef, Schmidt layers humor, despair, betrayal, and hope in this delicious story of growing up. Though the plot occasionally strains at believability—how does an American soldier end up with a British butler, for example, or even more questionable, how does a junior high cricket team gain more attention than the football team—but readers will be having so much fun, they won’t spend too much time wondering about such things.

Thanks to Netgalley for a digital review copy of this book.

I know Gary Schmidt's writing to be emotionally honest, if blunt, which is why I keep an eye out for his books. With Carter Jones, Schmidt returns to middle-school aged kids, placing a current experience -- a father away on deployment -- with the charm of an old-fashioned nanny-tale. Combining sports and friendship and mentorship, this story creates a new narrative around what it means to be a gentleman, and gives an incredible example of how we as society can model positive masculinity.

Sixth-grader Carter Jones is asked to answer the knock at the door as his mom and three sisters scurry around getting ready for school. At 7:15 in the morning, on the first day of school, Carter is shocked to see an English butler wearing a bowler hat and holding an umbrella as big as a satellite disk standing on his porch. It seems Carter’s grandfather has passed away leaving funds for the Butler to move from his Grandfather's employee to working for Carter's family.

Carter and his mother are reluctant to let this man, who has mysteriously shown up on their doorstep, into their home. But the family's car isn’t working, Mr. Jones is deployed in Germany, and the chance that the kids will get to school on time is slim, so Mrs. Jones reluctantly allows the Butler in to help, at least for that morning. Carter, however, doesn’t mind sharing his very real concerns about the Butler.


“Can I just say, I wasn’t so sure about this. I mean, he said he was a gentleman’s gentleman--which obviously, is a dumb way to say “butler”--but he could have been some kind of missionary in disguise. Or someone selling satellite-disk umbrellas. Or someone casing out our place for a burglary. Or a serial killer. Anything."

Carter needs time to adjust to the presence of this new, somewhat demanding and unique man. A man who loves the sport of cricket. A man who talks pretty weird. A man who insists that the dog needs to be walked. A man who is there to help mend a broken family, one that isn't even aware of just how broken they are.

We learn things as the story progresses. Flashbacks of "father and son" experiences that Carter recalls and the fact that Carter’s younger brother passed away while his dad was stationed far away.
The Butler introduces the game of cricket to Carter, which takes up a good portion of the book, but ties directly to the story.

What Concerned Me: As I mentioned above, cricket correlates very well with the theme of the story, but since I basically know nothing about Cricket, even though the author does a wonderful job of describing it, I was still lost part of the time. If I had it to do over, I would go to YouTube and watch How to play cricket: The Basics (or something similar) before reading this book. I recommend that you do the same if you aren’t familiar with the game.

My second concern is that the Butler allowed 12-year-old Carter to drive his car, not around the block once, but many times, and sometimes with the family as passengers. I’m sure, well, not really sure, but think the Butler was trying to demonstrate his faith in Carter, however not a good way, in my opinion.

What I Liked Most: The first sentence in this book hooked me! This book has such depth and character development that it rated high on my scale. It has some humor and lots of subtle insight as well. But since the story relied so heavily on some knowledge of cricket, I rated it down a bit. That said, I still highly recommend this book. I absolutely loved the Butler and Carter.

3.5 stars. I love Gary Schmidt’s work, and this one didn’t disappoint except for the over-abundance of cricket information. I had to be willing to suspend understanding, because I honestly didn’t, even though there was so much focus on the sport. Having said that, I loved the characters, especially the Butler, and how Carter Jones works through his own emotions. The relationship between the two was priceless.

Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick is a butler Carter’s family has inherited from his grandfather. He is very British and old-fashioned, and he immediately starts mending this broken family. We find out that Carter’s brother has passed away, and his father is stationed far away, incommunicado.

There are some fantastical elements to this middle grade novel: Mr. Bowles-Fitzpatrick is kind of a reimagined Mary Poppins, and some of the choices he makes are unconventional and even dangerous. Teaching 12 year-old Carter how to drive, for example. And then having him drive his young sisters around town (inexpertly!). So there is some suspension of disbelief, although I understand that the Butler is trying to instill confidence in his young charge.

Interspersed throughout are flashbacks of Carter on wilderness trek through Australia with his father. There are a lot of tough truths that Carter has to face, and it’s nice that Bowles-Fitzpatrick is there to pick up the pieces, although I kept wondering when Carter’s mother would take a bigger role.

There is a good deal about cricket, and the positive qualities of sports. I think this would be interesting to a lot of readers, but I’m not a sports person.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc.

Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt is a fun and entertaining story. Carter is starting middle school and on the first day of school, a butler arrives to help the family. Dad is gone and Mom is sad. As Carter navigates through some life moments, his butler is there to guide him on his journey. The story had me thinking of Mary Poppins in some ways. The author weaves in various rules of Cricket so those not having a knowledge of this sport may find that a little distracting. This book would be a nice addition to upper elementary and middle school reading lists.

This title was provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The title means pay attention to life and Carter does... with help from his grandfather’s proper Butler who introduces Carter to cricket —just one of the many incredible ways he enriched Carter and his family’s life. He tells Carter and Carter’s sisters, “Make good decisions and remember who you are.” This wisdom resonates as Carter tries to understand why his dad abandoned their family.
I’m in awe of the genius crafting of this memorable story filled with meaningful life lessons. It will stay with me. And, it makes me want to learn more about cricket!

Carter Jones is facing some tough times. He's about to enter middle school, he has 3 younger sisters, his dad is deployed to Germany, and his mom is sad much of the time. When out of the blue, on the first morning of school a butler arrives and offers his services to the family. The butler had worked for Carter's recently deceased grandfather and was now available to Carter's family. Carter's very American family took some time adjusting to the very British butler, but he worked to win everyone's trust and heart.

This book was a delight - a cross between Mary Poppins and Downton Abbey. The author uses the game of cricket as a way to guide Carter in a very gentlemanly way. Each chapter begins with a fact or rule about cricket, and as the book progresses so does our knowledge of the game. The butler helps Carter navigate through difficult revelations and is a lovely presence for an adolescent with no male role model for guidance. My only hesitation about recommending this book to the middle grade readers at my school is the unfamiliarity American students have with cricket. With a little thoughtful scaffolding this is a book that will be enjoyed by many.

Ok, with the exclusion of all the cricket jargon, this reminded me of the Andy Griffith episode where bicycle riding Malcolm Merriweather glides into Mayberry interrupting the country lives of Andy and Opie. Aunt Bee is out of town. Malcom is sincere and tries to English them up. After all Americans have no manners,

In Schmidt’s book we meet Carter Jones and his mother and three sisters. Carter, one morning, is astonished when he finds a real English butler, bowler hat and all, on the doorstep. He is there to bring order to the chaotic life of the Jones family. Dad is overseas serving his country. Or is he?

Carter is struggling to adjust to middle school and now he must succumb to the unwelcome presence of this new know-it-all adult in his life, the Butler, and navigate the butler's notions of decorum.
The story is somewhat humorous, as well as insightful and just a fun read.

I don’t know anything about the game of Cricket, and frankly don’t want to, so I felt really bogged with that part of the book.

But, the concept and writing is fabulous.

I love Gary Schmidt's work, and this book is by far my favorite. I love the butler, but I also like the voice of Carter. He slowly comes to accept the changes in his life with the help of his gentleman's gentleman. Full of humor and some sadness, this book will be enjoyed by all boys and girls trying to find their place.