Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Junk Boy was a book that I had a hard time reading. I'm a teacher and know all too well that kids like this exist in most communities. It's really a painful thing to have to know that there are major limitations as to how you can help young people caught up in their family history and culture and not knowing what to do about it. I think Junk Boy wanted to convince himself that there were ways to escape, yet he was tied to family even though it was toxic. The girl that came into his life made this into a story that went beyond what it would have been without her. It was the catalyst for Junk Boy. The way the story ended was much more positive than I was expecting but perhaps not entirely hopeful either.

This is a narrative that might have benefited from a more traditional structure. While the aim of the book, for this boy to find his self worth and confront his father, fits into the verse novel format, the additional complications of the girl at school and her broken relationships add enough complexity that the verse format can't share enough detail. We get only little glimpses , impressions of this girl and interactions. This leaves us with a sense that we've read a summary rather than a full story.

Great book! I loved the characters and the writing style. However, I do believe that there were a few places where I thought the plot was going to go and I ended up being a little disappointed. Overall, people who love novels in verse will like this!

I enjoyed the rawness and story of hope in this book. While Bobby had a tough life he never gave up hope that there would be a better one, one day.

This is such a great read and shows how two outsiders can find each other and build a friendship over their outcast statuses. The author's writing this in prose made it even better than if it would have been writing as a traditional novel.

Junk Boy by Tony Abbott is a surprisingly moving novel written in verse. The story follows Bobby who is nicknamed "junk" by his bullying classmates. Bobby lives in a run down house on the outskirts of town with his neglectful father and a yard littered with junk. He is sad, alone, bullied and hungry. As he begins to clean up the yard himself, his mental state begins to heal as well. He finds a friend who carries her own junk and they begin to heal together.
This is a moving story that touches on suicide, homosexuality, mental health and healing as a journey. The recommended age is 13+ and would make a great classroom discussion.

Heartbreaking. Gut wrenching. Tear jerking. This novel in verse has it all. I don’t think Bobby’s story would’ve been as powerful if it weren’t written in verse. Abbott creates characters that span the spectrum and you can love, hate, get frustrated with. Bobby’s story is one we all need to hear. About being alone, finding someone, and working out feelings for that someone.

It's kind of a fascinating experience to read a book for teens by Tony Abbott, once a prominent figure in my reading life at seven-years-old now twenty years later. <em>Junk Boy</em> is a novel in verse, featuring a damaged and quiet boy. Bobby Lang, or Junk as his classmates call him, lives in a destitute and traumatic situation. His father, a desolate drunk, is absent at best and cruel at worst. For Bobby, life drags along in a miserable but familiar way. That is, until he meets Rachel and takes a front seat to her struggles.

<b>In Other Words</b>

The verse aspect of this book was intriguing. I don't know how much it worked, though. At times it really did work to pull you in, but at others, you felt somewhat removed. Bobby's head is also a very uncomfortable place to be for a variety of reasons. I think the most off-putting for me, though, was his complete lack of friends.

There wasn't even <em>one</em> person that Bobby spoke to (aside from his drunkard father) before Rachel.

<b>Speaking of Rachel</b>

I didn't like her? Something about Rachel just <em>bugged</em> me and I think it might have been how selfish she was in regards to Bobby. Her introduction was fine, if potentially triggering to some in the LGBTQ+ community (parental abuse). Her story wasn't <em>terrible</em> at first, though I didn't much care for the half-baked conversion therapy attempt her mother made with the church. But she never really seemed truly interested in a friendship with Bobby. Rather, it seemed like she was using him.

Bobby, on the other hand, grew infatuated with how she saw him. This basically amounts to the fact that she drew a picture of his face that didn't depict him in the dark light he saw himself in and his father regularly put him down to. Which, I suppose is fine. We all need someone who sees us in a positive light.

Then there was the ending, which legitimately led me to believe it was heading in the direction of a "bury your gays" trope. I suppose it's a spoiler to say that, fortunately, this is not the direction the book takes. At the same time, though, the fact that it nearly did bugged me. A lot.

<b>A Shining Moment</b>

I'm not sure if this novel really has one. And by that, the truth is that part of me feels like the mess was cleaned up far too easily. I think the end message is hope. We're expected to see the possibilities of it all. Everything gets better. But, if I'm being honest, this isn't a situation I really expect gets better just like that. One wake-up moment isn't going to make both parents change. And as much as I <em>want</em> to believe it, I just don't.

Maybe I'm jaded. Perhaps I'm just in a moment of my life where I can't see good coming from a situation like this. With all that I've experienced in the world, this ending just felt contrived. How am I truly supposed to suspend my disbelief here? I can't.

And while it isn't a bad book, it's not a great one, either. I really don't think the message hits the way it is meant to if it hits at all. This is a story about depressing circumstances that I'm sure many have faced and continue to. And this happy ending? It feels false. We needed a <em>different</em> happy ending.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

This review will be live on the Reader Fox blog on October 13, 2020.

Junk Boy is a story about Bobby Lang, a boy who has certainly had a "junk" life. Kids from his school gave him the nickname since he lives in a run down house with his neglectful father. Bobby meets Rachel, a girl who has problems of her own. Together they form a friendship and help one another. This book was recommended for fans of The Crossover and Long Way Down. Besides them all being in verse, I didn't see other connections. I found it hard to relate to Bobby and Rachel. That might be because their lives and experiences are so different from my own or others I have read. While this book wasn't for me, I am sure there are readers who will enjoy this story.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Robert is such a raw and vivid character. He is freakishly similar to my freshman year boyfriend (my first boyfriend): poor, not particularly clean, lived in squalor, parents hated him, Catholic. He was a mess, but he was smart and funny and I liked how he treated me (he also forced my first kiss from me, and then cheated on me. With a dude. He wasn't perfect by any means). He was so very much like Bobby in this book. I could completely believe he would befriend a girl having problems and try to help her fulfill her dreams. He was that kind of guy. He also flew into rages occasionally for no apparent reason. He was also that kind of guy. I mostly appreciated how beautifully descriptive this book was. Every scene came to light, the poetic themes throughout were clear but unobtrusive, and I liked the story. I can see this being a great class read, maybe for a special ed class that would like the compelling story without too much complexity interfering with comprehension. In fact, I'm going to tell my friend about it who's a high school special ed teacher. It's a great selection.