Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt

Reviewed by Rylee M.
Grade 7

1968. The Vietnam War is raging. Joe Pepitone is playing for the New York Yankees, and the Apollo space missions are under way. At this time there were lots of families with soldiers overseas. Being in New York, which is not the safest city, there are a lot of broken up families. Would you like to live like this? How would it make you feel if your oldest brother was off in the war and your other brother was accused of robbery? Doug, the main character in Okay For Now, goes through this when he moves to upstate New York.

Doug Swieteck lives in a small apartment that he personally calls "dump." His father is a drunk, but his mother is one of the most caring and thoughtful mothers there is. Doug's older brother is off in the Vietnam War, and his other older brother was accused of a robbery. Doug does not have the ideal family life. One of the more positive things Doug focuses on is baseball. Doug is a huge new York Yankees fan. Joe Pepitone, the Yankees' star player at the time, had even signed a hat and a jacket for Doug. Although valuable things don't last long in his house, so he lost his hat on the side of the road, and his brother took his jacket. With practically nothing left he decided to pay a visit to the library, where he meets sassy Lil Spicer, the daughter of the deli owner. The two of them form a surprising alliance as Doug's older brother comes home.

Even though I'm usually not interested or entertained by books that are historical fiction or realistic fiction, I like Okay For Now. I absolutely could not put it down! It was very good overall and very well written. I really liked how the author put the story together and the word choice in this book. I would highly recommend this book to readers of all kinds!