Losing Joe's Place

Last updated
Losing Joe's Place
Losing Joe's Place.jpg
Front cover
Author Gordon Korman
LanguageEnglish
GenreAdventure fiction
Published1990, Scholastic
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint, e-book, audiobook
Pages233 pages
ISBN 0-590-42768-7

Losing Joe's Place is a 1990 teen novel by Gordon Korman. [1] [2] The book was first published on April 1, 1990 through Scholastic and follows the adventures of three small town Ontario boys (Jason, Ferguson and Don) as they live in Jason's brother's (Joe) apartment in Toronto for a summer. [3] However, there is one catch: Under no circumstances can they cause Joe to lose his lease. Losing Joe's Place was listed on YALSA's "Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults 2001". [4]

Contents

According to WorldCat, the book is held in 659 libraries [5]

Plot

The novel starts in September, after Joe Cardone, the brother of the main character, has come back from his trip to Europe, and after the summer in Toronto for Jason Cardone (Joe's brother) and his two friends, Don and Ferguson (Peachfuzz) the novel chronicles. They have lost his lease and he is taking out his temper on Jason. September ends with Jason calling Don and Ferguson so they can start looking for a new place for Joe to live. The novel then flashes back to the previous June. The characters have convinced their parents to let them move into Joe Cardone, Jason Cardone's older brother's house for the summer. Early on, Ferguson makes Jason and Don lose their jobs at the plastics company where they work, and Jason and Don attempt to find jobs. While they are at a "teenage club" Don attempts to hit on a girl, Jessica, and ends up knocking her out cold by accident. Immediately after that, Don and Ferguson each attempt to get Jessica's attention throughout the rest of the book, Jason feeling like a 3rd wheel until the end of the book where Jessica confesses her love for Jason, after knocking Jason out cold with a pair of brass knuckles. Don finds jobs fairly easily but is almost immediately fired, however, Jason doesn't find a single job because Jessica constantly asking Jason for help with different things during the book. A friend of Joe's, Rootbeer Racinette helps Jason and Don earn money by doing various odd jobs and illegal gambling using his large size. Later in the book, Ferguson makes a plan to get revenge on their nosy landlord, Plotnick, who sells hubcaps in the deli that he owns. This results in Plotnick being hit in the head by a flying hubcap, and severely hurt, and put in traction for a month. Jason feels responsible for this and takes to running the deli in Plotnick's absence. The deli becomes a hit, and at the end of the month, Jason has earned so much money that Plotnick sells all the apartment and builds an expensive beach condo over it, thus losing the lease of all the people living there. The book ends where the start left off, and Jason finds a new, better apartment for Joe.

Characters

Reception

The Canadian Review of Materials praised Losing Joe's Place, remarking that it was "fast paced with great characters and full of unbelievable events that we would all like to believe possible!" [6] The Horn Book Guide also gave a favorable review, calling it the "ultimate teenage fantasy". [7]

Related Research Articles

Susan Eloise Hinton is an American writer best known for her young-adult novels (YA) set in Oklahoma, especially The Outsiders (1967), which she wrote during high school. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Korman</span> Canadian American author (born 1963)

Gordon Korman is a Canadian author of children's and young adult fiction books. Korman's books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide over a career spanning four decades and have appeared at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.

The Michael L. Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It is sponsored by Booklist magazine; administered by the ALA's young-adult division, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA); and named for the Topeka, Kansas, school librarian Mike Printz, a long-time active member of YALSA. Up to four worthy runners-up may be designated Honor Books and three or four have been named every year.

<i>Related</i> American comedy-drama television series (2005–2006)

Related is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on The WB from October 5, 2005, to March 20, 2006. It revolves around the lives of four close-knit sisters of Italian descent, raised in Brooklyn and living in Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Strasser</span> American novelist

Todd Strasser is an American writer of more than 140 young-adult and middle grade novels and many short stories and works of non-fiction, some written under the pen names Morton Rhue and T.S. Rue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Peck (writer)</span> American novelist (1934-2018)

Richard Wayne Peck was an American novelist known for his contributions to modern young adult literature. He was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2001 for his novel A Year Down Yonder. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1990.

<i>Scorpions</i> (novel) 1009 novel by Walter Dean Myers

Scorpions, first published on June 20, 1988, by Harper & Row, is a young adult novel written by Walter Dean Myers. It was a Newbery Medal Honor Book in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecil Castellucci</span> Canadian musician, American fiction writer

Cecil C. Castellucci, also known as Cecil Seaskull, is an American-born Canadian young adult novelist, indie rocker, and director. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Coy</span> American writer (born 1958)

John Richard Coy is an American children's and young adult author. He writes picture books, young adult novels and the 4 for 4 middle-grade series. He is best known for his books on basketball, Strong to the Hoop, Around the World, and Hoop Genius as well as Night Driving, Their Great Gift, and his coming-of-age novel, Crackback. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and visits schools around the world.

<i>Thirteen Reasons Why</i> 2007 novel by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why is a young adult novel written by Jay Asher in 2007, which follows the story of Hannah Baker, a high school sophomore, and the thirteen reasons why she has died by suicide. Following her death, Hannah leaves behind a series of seven double-sided cassette tapes detailing the thirteen specific people and events that she blames for her demise. Two weeks after her death, these cassette tapes are mailed out with directions to pass the tapes on to the next person on the tape. Hannah's life story is conveyed through these tapes, which are narrated by Hannah herself, and through the point of view of Clay, her classmate and the ninth person to receive the tapes. The inspiration behind the main character, Hannah Baker, comes from author Jay Asher's close relative who attempted suicide.

<i>Dont You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey</i> 1996 novel by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey is a 1996 young adult novel written by Margaret Peterson Haddix. It tells the story of high school student Tish Bonner through journal entries assigned throughout the year by her English teacher, Mrs. Dunphrey, and follows her as her life slowly begins to spin out of control through familial and social troubles.

<i>Living Dead Girl</i> (novel) Young adult novel written by Elizabeth Scot

Living Dead Girl is a young adult novel written by Elizabeth Scott. The story follows a girl called "Alice" who has been kidnapped by a pedophile named Ray.

<i>I Am Rembrandts Daughter</i> 2007 novel by Lynn Cullen

I Am Rembrandt's Daughter is a 2007, young adult historical fiction novel by Lynn Cullen about the famous artist Rembrandt van Rijn's daughter Cornelia van Rijn (1654-1684). In Cullen's version of the story, Cornelia finds that she is not Rembrandt's daughter, but rather that of Nicolaes Bruyningh, the subject of one of Rembrandt's paintings. The novel was selected by YALSA as one of the Best Books for Young Adults in 2008.

<i>The Bluford Series</i> Series of young adult novels

The Bluford Series is a widely read collection of contemporary American young adult novels set in the fictional inner-city high school of Bluford High in Southern California. Bluford is named for Guion "Guy" Bluford, the first African-American astronaut. The series was created and published by Townsend Press and was co-distributed by Scholastic. As part of an effort to promote reading in underfunded school districts, Townsend Press originally made the Bluford Series available to schools for a dollar each. As of 2018, over 11 million Bluford Series novels were in print.

<i>Shine</i> (Myracle novel) 2011 book by Lauren Myracle

Shine is a 2011 young adult mystery novel by Lauren Myracle. The book was published on May 1, 2011, and follows a teenage girl investigating a hate crime involving the beating and near-death of her best friend in a small, North Carolina town. Shine won the 2012 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award and is on the ALA's "YALSA Reader’s Choice" and "Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults" lists for 2012.

<i>The Compound</i> (novel) 2008 novel by S. A. Bodeen

The Compound is a 2008 fictional young adult novel by S. A. Bodeen. The book was first released on April 29, 2008, through Feiwel & Friends and centers upon a young man named Eli who has been living in a compound for six years. Bodeen came up with the idea of including cannibalism in the novel after watching a television show where "a dinosaur fed a favorite offspring the bodies of its less fortunate brothers and sisters."

<i>Burn Baby Burn</i> (novel) Young adult novel by Meg Medina

Burn Baby Burn is a 2016 young adult novel written by Cuban-American author Meg Medina. It was first published in March, 2016 through Candlewick Press and follows a young woman growing up during the summer of 1977, when the Son of Sam began targeting young women.

<i>Long Way Down</i> (book) 2017 novel by Jason Reynolds

Long Way Down is a young adult novel in verse by Jason Reynolds, published October 24, 2017, by Atheneum Books. The book was longlisted for the National Book Award and was named a Printz Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and Newbery Medal Honor Book, alongside other awards and positive reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan Wolf</span> American author

Allan Wolf is an American poet and young adult author. His books are primarily multi-perspective historical fiction in verse, but he has also published several poetry books for children. He is also an accomplished slam poet.

<i>The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep</i> 2020 novel by Allan Wolf

The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party is a fictional, poetic retelling of the historic Donner Party's expedition into the Sierra Nevada. The book is written by Allan Wolf, published September 8, 2020 by Candlewick Press.

References

  1. Elliott, Joan B.; Dupuis, Mary M. (2002). Young Adult Literature in the Classroom: Reading It, Teaching It, Loving it. International Reading Association. p. 24. ISBN   9780872071735 . Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  2. Richards Bodart, Joni (1996). Booktalking the Award Winners: Young Adult Retrospective Volume. H.W. Wilson. p. 169. ISBN   9780824208776 . Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  3. Lesesne, Teri S (March 1, 1991). "Electric Reading: Powerful Books for Young Adults" (PDF). Paper Presented at the Annual Southwest Regional Conference of the International Reading Association: 4. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  4. "Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults 2001". YALSA. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  5. WorldCat book entry
  6. Young, Gerri (July 1990). "LOSING JOE'S PLACE (review)". Canadian Review of Materials. 18 (4). Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  7. "Losing Joe's Place (review)". Horn Book Guide. Retrieved 8 August 2015.