This is the story about two kids who meet each other and after a first awful meeting, they realize they have a lot in comon - both have secrets at home

A solid concept with a shaky execution. THe characters don't read true. They aren't especially well developed and the jam sandwich element was an odd detail to fixate upon.

Robbie can't control much in his life. His dad doesn't pay any attention to him and sometimes just disappears. His mother died when he was young. Robbie keeps things together and works at being the best he can be and being prepared. When Harmony comes into his life it is anything but harmonious. She has a chip on her shoulder - mother in rehab and she is in foster care. But despite the odds the 2 become friends. Can these broken people help each other heal and even thrive?

This was really good - Harmony and Robbie were good together and the message was clear. Maybe too heavy handed?

The King Of Jam Sandwiches is a YA book that follows two eighth grades that are both living in messy home environments. Robbie and Harmony become friends as they struggle to cope and learn to trust each other .The story is based on some of Eric Walter's own life experiences.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about Fish (short for Fishel) who is getting ready to have his bar mitzvah. As part of the bar mitzvah, he is meant to do a service project, but he can't decide what he should do. He decides that he wants to knit socks for his service project but everyone around him keeps telling him that knitting is for girls. Fish persists and finally comes up with a great plan for his service project. This is a simple story with a nice resolution.

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read and review this book. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer simply to advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

I received a copy of THE KING OF JAM SANDWICHES thanks to the publisher through NetGalley.

First off, trigger warnings. Neglect and hints at abuse

Thirteen-year-old Robbie (Robert) meets fourteen-year-old Harmony on her first day at his middle school. It was not a... pleasant first experience. But the two understand each other more than anyone else in their life ever could. Both have only one parent, and that parent is failing monumentally although in different ways. Either way the outcome is the same: a child who is doing everything they can to survive.

This story is really well done. The bond between the characters is so believable and their relationships with others is a bit brutally honest but in the best way.

I recommend this to age ranges from middle grade to adult, especially if you, or someone you know, is going through a hard time. There is a strong theme of ‘take life one day at a time and do tour best each day’.

Eleanor and Park meets All the Bright Places is the touching middle grade novel about friendship and unfortunate life circumstances.

The King of Jam Sandwiches by Eric Walters is an emotional, heartwrenching read that is derived from the author's personal experience. The novel is marketed for a middle school demographic, but I easily connected with it from an adult perspective and savoured every word. Highly recommended reading.

Robbie is thirteen years old and living with his father who suffers from a myriad of mental health issues, making life almost unbearable for his son. Robbie has one goal, to escape his father by going to university, and he meticulously counts the number of days until he can make his escape. Life changes when Harmony arrives at Robbie's school one day and, as a foster child and the daughter of an absent alcoholic mother, she quickly finds common ground with Robbie and a friendship is born.

The bond between Robbie and Harmony is strengthened by circumstance, and the resulting relationship is both tragic and heartwarming. These are two individuals you won't soon forget.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Orca Book Publishers for this ARC.

My advanced and mature fourth grade students would really like this book. The issues and relationships explored reminded me of The Tiger Rising and The Great Gilly Hopkins. I think it is important for young readers to learn about grief and the struggles of others to gain empathy and understanding. It was heartbreaking to read that the author drew from his own life experiences in telling the story of Robbie and what he experienced growing up. This is a different type of survival story and one that is unfortunately relatable to too many children. I liked how the friendship between Robbie and Harmony grew and developed as they helped one another cope with life. This book showcased the sad reality of kids having to grow up very fast because of their circumstances whether it be living with a troubled parent or being in the foster care system. Such a powerful story that should be included in classrooms. Wouldn't be surprised if this garners some awards!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

TW: mental health, (probable) bipolar disorder, drugs, alcohol, beating, fights


Robbie is thirteen years old and his father isn't like the other fathers. Sometimes he wakes him up in the middle of the night, because he's sure he will die. Sometimes he leaves Robbie and doesn't come back for days. So Robbie is used to live on his own. He has a part time job, he's able to pay bills, he has plans to get by until he's old enough to attend university and leave his father and the neighbourhood behind. He's scared to tell anyone the truth about his situation. One day, though, he meets the new girl, Harmony and he's tasked to show her around at school and even though their first meeting ends with a punch in Robbie's face, they discover they have a lot in common. Secrets, lies, bad parenting and the desire to escape their reality.

The king of jam sandwiches is beautiful, heartbreaking and really moving. Robbie, Robert, is a wonderful main character, forced to grow up and take care of himself because his father isn't around and when he is he doesn't care about him or notice him. So he was forced to come up with plans to survive, like getting good grades, taking care of his dog, of the house and the food, working and saving money, hoping to survive until he's old enough to attend university. After the loss of his mother and grandparents, he and his father are alone, above all because his father doesn't get along with his brother.

Afraid to lose his home, his father, Robert is convinced to be able to survive this way, living basically on his own. Until he meets Harmony. They find a real friend in one other, revealing their fears and secrets to each other, supporting and helping one other. Harmony is in a difficult situation, too, with her being in many foster homes, because her mother is an alcoholist and uses drugs.
Relying on, helping and supporting one other was really moving to read. Harmony and Robert clicked right away, with hilarious jokes, humor, funny and cute moments.

The reader follows Robert and Harmony in their friendships and journey, in trusting one other and then other people, letting them in, in admitting their fears and secrets, in trying to get better and change their situations.

"Living with my father was like being on an elevator- an express elevator. There was the bottom floor and the penthouse and no stop in between." (quote from the earc, so subject to change)

That Robert's father has mental health problems is clear in Robert's description about what is like to live with him, unable to help him, forced to follow his moods and, at least in the beginning, convinced that it was his fault, somehow.
It's a book where the kids are forced to act like adults, by the circumstances, to think and react like them, being more responsible and serious than their actual parents.

The king of jam sandwiches addresses a lot of important topics, like mental health, poverty, foster houses, addiction, rehab, drugs, with wry humor, funny and intense moments and amazing and complex characters.
Robert's poverty and his father's disregard of his own son is clear in his clothes and his food, the same lunch and dinner, Robert being too skinny or too tired to act like a boy his own age. His paranoias is also addressed in how many times he checked if the doors or the windows are closed, his desire to survive his father and the neighbourhood in the countdown in his notebook, his being at the top of his class and being more responsible.

The king of jam sandwiches is a moving and heartfelt journey, that made me laugh and cry and hope. This book is a gem.

I have a long and wonderful history with the books of Eric Walters. I've been reading his work for nearly 17 years, and I consider him to be my all-time favourite author. "The King of Jam Sandwiches" is his upcoming release, and I was both ecstatic and absolutely honoured to receive an e-ARC copy from Orca Book Publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story of "The King of Jam Sandwiches" follows 13-year-old Robbie, He's smart and studious, with a largely absent father who can sometimes disappear for days at a time, leaving Robbie to fend for himself. When he first meets Harmony, the tough new girl at his school, she punches him in the face. Little do both of them know however that the punch will be the start of an unlikely but important friendship.

Before the novel even begins, we're made aware of the fact that this is a deeply personal story for the author, and reading the book with that information in mind definitely helped to put things into perspective for me.

This is a very heavy, unflinching, but ultimately hopeful story and as with all of Eric Walters's books, it's masterfully written. I truly sympathized and empathized with both Robbie and Harmony as characters and it was a joy to see their friendship develop into something true and genuine, in spite of their respective circumstances.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Eric Walters is truly a Canadian treasure, and I consider myself lucky to have grown up with his books. With "The King of Jam Sandwiches" he's crafted his most personal-- and one of his most compelling and unforgettable--story to date. I truly loved this book and I think it's a story that everyone should read!

"The King of Jam Sandwiches" is scheduled for publication on September 22, 2020. Thank you to both Orca Book Publishers and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this book early!

I was so lucky to receive an ARC of The King of Jam Sandwiches by @EricRWalters from @NetGalley and from the first paragraph I was hooked. In achingly beautiful story of grief, mental illness, resilancy and friendship. Robert and Harmony are two characters that will stay with me.

Twitter @MrsFallis

Robbie is a strong character, driven by his plan to graduate and leave his father behind when he attends university, even though he's only 13 years old. This touching tale reminds me of Free Lunch by Rex Ogle, only it has a much different spin -- rather than deal with hunger, Robbie deals with surviving - and he does so by sticking to a plan and not taking risks. And when he reluctantly is drawn into Harmony's world, he stays on task and gets through the tough times, realizing that Robbie in the present is just as important as the future-Robbie he has planned for.

Review posts on Sep 13/20 on blog.

The King of Jam Sandwiches by Eric Walters is a middle grade novel about a boy named Robbie, who is living with an unstable father. Robbie knows that his father is unstable, and he has learned how to live with his father. It is also about Harmony, who came to school because of a foster home, and has a lot in common with Robbie. They become fast friends after a quick dispute, understanding one another more than either have been understood in their lives.

I thought these were strong, well crafted characters, who had details about themselves that told us who they were beyond the plot. I wish we'd been given physical descriptions of the characters or the city, as there were none and I was left wondering what these characters looked like, but this is a minor gripe.

I liked the plot and the pacing of this novel, and I think this will resonate well with kids, whether it's kids who are in similar positions as Robbie or Harmony, or whether it's someone who will gain an understanding of someone's life.

There were times when I wished the novel would have touched a bit more on mental health. It was clear to me that the father in this novel had bipolar disorder. Robbie himself seemed to realize this but not have a name for it. I wanted there to be some hint that mental illness does not make people a bad parent - whether alcoholism or bipolar disorder, these are things that can be medicated, or a person can be in therapy for. We do get a hint of this at the bouncer/bartender that tells Robbie and Harmony about his own alcoholic mother who has been in recovery for many years, but I wish there'd been more about that.

I can only imagine how hard it was for Mr. Walters to write this book, but, boy am I glad he did and I got to read it. This should be a book that everyone should read. This is a well written story of Robbie and Harmony, each dealing with a broken family.
I was blessed to not have lived in poverty because my dad was steady, honest and loving. But my mother was an alcoholic and everyday when I came home from school I worried if she wasn’t home and even more worried if she was gone and hadn’t left a note telling us where she was. She was a loving and caring mother, but we just never knew when she would hit the bottle to try to ease her demons.
Thank you, Mr. Walters, for sharing your story and thank you for the post note and the note for educators. Sharing your outcome and telling educators how to help young people who are experiencing the troubles you had is so powerful.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of The King of Jame Sandwiches in exchange for an honest review.

The King of Jam Sandwiches follows two eighth graders from messy home situations as they learn to cope and find support for themselves through each other. Walters has been very open on a lot of this being based on his own experiences, and you can tell. Occasionally hilarious and occasionally devastating, Walters tells a wonderful story here.

My main issue would probably be the setting. A lot of the characters talk and act like they exist outside of the modern setting (which considering that this draws from the author's actual childhood, they probably actually did) and the inclusion of more modern aspects really had no impact on the plot. I just don't see why this couldn't have been set a few decades earlier when Walters himself would have been a teenager so the whole 'teen speak' thing would sound more realistic.