Orbiting Jupiter

By Gary D. Schmidt

In this riveting novel, two boys discover the true meaning of family and the sacrifices it requires.

Two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at thirteen, who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter.

After spending time in a juvenile facility, he’s placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. Here Joseph, damaged and withdrawn, meets twelve-year-old Jack, who narrates the account of the troubled, passionate teen who wants to find his baby at any cost.

When Jack meets his new foster brother, he knows three things about him:

• Joseph almost killed a teacher.
• He was incarcerated at a place called Stone Mountain.
• He has a daughter. Her name is Jupiter. And he has never seen her.

What Jack doesn't know, at first, is how desperate Joseph is to find his baby girl. Or how urgently he, Jack, will want to help.

But the past can't be shaken off.  Even as new bonds form, old wounds reopen. The search for Jupiter demands more from Jack than he can imagine.

This tender, heartbreaking novel is Gary D. Schmidt at his best. He is the author of the Printz Honor and Newbery Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy; Okay for Now, a National Book Award finalist; and The Wednesday Wars, a Newbery Honor Book, among his many acclaimed novels for young readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9780544462649

Gary D. Schmidt

Gary D. Schmidt is the bestselling author of The Labors of Hercules Beal; Just Like That; National Book Award finalist Okay for Now; Pay Attention, Carter Jones; Orbiting Jupiter; the Newbery Honor and Printz Honor Book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy; and the Newbery Honor Book The Wednesday Wars. He is also contributor to and co-editor of the acclaimed short story collection A Little Bit Super, co-edited by Leah Henderson. He lives in rural Michigan.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by Gary D. Schmidt

All rights reserved. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2015.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to [e-mail] or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

hmhbooks.com

Cover photograph © 2017 by Carmen Spitznagel/Trevillion Images

Cover design by Sharismar Rodriguez

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Schmidt, Gary D.

Orbiting Jupiter / Gary D. Schmidt.

pages cm

Summary: Jack, 12, tells the gripping story of Joseph, 14, who joins his family as a foster child. Damaged in prison, Joseph wants nothing more than to find his baby daughter, Jupiter, whom he has never seen. When Joseph has begun to believe he'll have a future, he is confronted by demons from his past that force a tragic sacrifice— Provided by publisher.

[1. Friendship—Fiction. 2. Emotional problems—Fiction. 3. Child abuse—Fiction. 4. Teenage fathers—Fiction. 5. Foster home care—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.S3527Or 2015

[Fic]—dc23

2015001338

ISBN 978-0-544-46222-9 hardcover

ISBN 978-0-544-93839-7 paperback

eISBN 978-0-544-46264-9

v2.0119

For Noah and Kathleen,

and for Carolyn

One

"Before you agree to have Joseph come live with you, Mrs. Stroud said, there are one or two things you ought to understand." She took out a State of Maine * Department of Health and Human Services folder and laid it on the kitchen table.

My mother looked at me for a long time. Then she looked at my father.

He put his hand on my back. Jack should know what we’re getting into, same as us, he said. He looked down at me. Maybe you more than anyone.

My mother nodded, and Mrs. Stroud opened the folder.

This is what she told us.

Two months ago, when Joseph was at Adams Lake Juvenile, a kid gave him something bad in the boys’ bathroom. He went into a stall and swallowed it.

After a long time, his teacher came looking for him.

When she found him, he screamed.

She said he’d better come out of that stall right now.

He screamed again.

She said he’d better come out of that stall right now unless he wanted more trouble.

So he did.

Then he tried to kill her.

They sent Joseph to Stone Mountain, even though he did what he did because the kid gave him something bad and he swallowed it. But that didn’t matter. They sent him to Stone Mountain anyway.

He won’t talk about what happened to him there. But since he left Stone Mountain, he won’t wear anything orange.

He won’t let anyone stand behind him.

He won’t let anyone touch him.

He won’t go into rooms that are too small.

And he won’t eat canned peaches.

He’s not very big on meatloaf either, said Mrs. Stroud, and she closed the State of Maine * Department of Health and Human Services folder.

He’ll eat my mother’s canned peaches, I said.

Mrs. Stroud smiled. We’ll see, she said. Then she put her hand on mine. Jack, your parents know this, and you should too. There’s something else about Joseph.

What? I said.

He has a daughter.

I felt my father’s hand against my back.

She’s almost three months old, but he’s never seen her. That’s one of the biggest heartbreaks in this case. Mrs. Stroud handed the folder to my mother. Mrs. Hurd, I’ll leave this with you. Read it, and then you can decide. Call me in a few days if . . .

We’ve talked this over, said my mother. We already know.

Are you sure?

My mother nodded.

We’re sure, my father said.

Mrs. Stroud looked at me. How about you, Jack?

My father’s hand still against my back.

How soon can he come? I said.

---

Two days later, on Friday, Mrs. Stroud brought Joseph home. He looked like a regular eighth-grade kid at Eastham Middle School. Black eyes, black hair almost over his eyes, a little less than middle for height, a little less than middle for weight, sort of middle for everything else.

He really could have been any other eighth-grade kid at Eastham Middle School. Except he had a daughter. And he wouldn’t look at you when he talked—if he talked.

He didn’t say a thing when he got out of Mrs. Stroud’s car. He wouldn’t let my mother hug him. He wouldn’t shake my father’s hand. And when I brought him up to our room, he threw his stuff on the top bunk and climbed up and still didn’t say anything.

I got in the bunk below him and read some until my father called us for milking.

In the Big Barn, Joseph and I tore up three bales and filled the bins—I told him you have to fill the bin in the Small Barn for Quintus Sertorius first because he’s an old horse and doesn’t like to wait—and then we went back to the cows in the tie-up to milk. My father said Joseph could watch but after today he’d be helping. Joseph stood with his back against the wall. When the cows turned and looked at him, they didn’t say a thing. Not even Dahlia. They kept pulling on the hay and chewing, like they do. That means they thought he was okay.

When my father got to Rosie, he asked Joseph if he’d like to try milking her.

Joseph shook his head.

She’s gentle. She’d let anyone milk her.

Joseph didn’t say anything.

Still, after my father was done and he’d taken a couple of full buckets out to the cooler, Joseph went up behind Rosie and reached out and rubbed the end of her back, right above her tail. He didn’t know that Rosie loved anyone who rubbed her rump, so when she mooed and swayed her behind, Joseph took a couple of quick steps back.

I said, She’s just telling you she’s—

I don’t care, said Joseph, and he left the barn.

The next morning, though, when the three of us went out to the Big Barn to milk, Joseph went to Rosie first, and he reached out and rubbed her rump again. And Rosie told Joseph she loved him.

That was the first time I saw Joseph smile. Sort of.

Joseph had never touched a cow’s rump before. Or her teat even. Really. So he was terrible at milking. And even though I kept rubbing her rump while Joseph was being terrible at milking, Rosie got pretty frustrated, and finally she kicked over the pail because Joseph didn’t have his leg out in front of hers. It didn’t matter much because there was hardly any milk in it anyway.

Joseph stood up just when my father came in.

My father looked at the pail and the spilled milk.

Then at Joseph.

I think there’s something you need to finish there, Joseph, he said.

You need milk this bad, there’s probably a store where you can get some like normal people, he said.

It was the longest string of words he’d said.

I don’t need the milk, said my father. He pointed at Rosie. But she needs you to milk her.

She doesn’t need me to—

She needs you. My father stacked his two pails to the side, then righted Joseph’s pail underneath Rosie. Sit down on the stool, he said. It took a few seconds, but Joseph came and sat down, and my father knelt beside him and reached beneath Rosie. I’ll show you again. With your thumb and forefinger, you pinch off the top—like this, and then let your fingers strip the milk down—like this. A squirt of milk against the metal side. Another. Another. Then my father stood.

A few seconds. More than a few.

Then Joseph reached under and tried.

Nothing.

Thumb and forefinger tight, then run down your other fingers.

Joseph tried again.

My father took over rubbing Rosie’s rump.

She mooed once, and then the squirting began. It was slow and not all that steady, but Joseph was milking, and soon the sound in the pail wasn’t the sound of milk on metal, but that foamy sound of milk in milk.

My father looked at me and smiled. Then he went around behind Joseph to pick up the pails he’d stacked.

And—bang!—Joseph leaped up as if something had exploded beneath him. His pail got knocked over again and the stool and Rosie mooed her afraid moo and Joseph stood with his back against the barn wall with his hands up, and even though he usually didn’t look at anyone he was looking at us and breathing fast and hard, like there wasn’t enough air in the whole wide world to breathe!

My father looked at him, and I could see something in my father’s eyes I’d never seen before. Sadness, I guess. I’m sorry, Joseph. I’ll try to remember, he said. He bent down and picked up his pails. I’ll finish here. You boys better go back to the house and get washed up. Jack, tell Mom I’ll be a few minutes.

It was almost dawn when we went outside, Joseph and me. The peaks to the west were lit up and spilling some of the light down their sides and onto our fields, all harvested and turned and ready for the long winter. You could smell the cold air and the wood smoke. The pond had broken panes of ice on the edges, enough to annoy the geese, and from the Small Barn you could hear Quintus Sertorius at his grain, snorting in his bin. Rosie mooed inside the barn. Everywhere in the gray yard, color was filling in—the red barns, the green shutters, the green trim on the house and the yellow trim on the chicken shed, the orange tabby clawing into the fence rail.

Joseph didn’t stop to see anything. He missed it all. He went into the house, still breathing hard. The door slapped shut behind him.

Still, that afternoon he was back in the Big Barn. And he rubbed Rosie’s rump. And she mooed. And then he milked her. All the way, even though it took a long time.

Do you think Joseph will fit in? my mother asked me later.

Rosie loves him, I said.

I didn’t need to say anything more. You can tell all you need to know about someone from the way cows are around him.

---

On Monday, Joseph and I tried to ride the bus to school, which I’d done a million times and it wasn’t exactly a big deal. You wait in the cold and the dark, the bus pulls up, most times Mr. Haskell doesn’t talk to you or even look at you because it’s cold and it’s dark and he didn’t spend all his life wanting to be a bus driver, you know, so you

Reviews for Orbiting Jupiter

[smichellehos · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A solid story throughout and an interesting premise. My only complaint is how the story ended... The final conflict felt too convenient, though it was easy enough to move past as the author already had me rooting for Joseph, Jack, and Jupiter.

[katielibrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

ARC courtesy of Edelweiss. This was phenomenal. Heart wrenching - but full of hope as well.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book borders between middle grade and teen fiction. It's got some heavy themes but is a very readable and emotional book. When Jack's parents tell him they are taking on a foster kid, he's excited. Then they follow up by saying that Joseph, the foster kid they are taking on, tried to kill a teacher, and even though he's only thirteen he has a daughter who he's never seen. They doesn't scare Jack though - he's excited to get to get to know Joseph. At first Joseph is quiet and rarely smiles. But as he becomes used to his new foster parents and the farm he starts to open up a little at a time. He milks the cows, reads, and starts to excel in school. How can he possibly have such a big and bad reputation?!? A very quick read that will engage readers.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

middlegrade fiction--teen parenthood, abusive fathers and other issues that lead to juvenile detention, PTSD resulting from juvenile detention (Jack is in 6th grade, Joseph is in 8th). Another great story from Gary D. Schmidt, but I felt that Jack was unusually mature and level-headed for his age (even though, yes, he's had the benefit of wonderfully supportive parents) so I'm not sure it would resonate with actual kids.

[deslivres5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Heartbreaking YA fiction dealing with some very serious themes (teen pregnancy, juvenile detention, fostering, bullying). I thought I knew about half-way through how it was going to end, but I was a bit off.

[acargile-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What makes this novel so memorable is the tone created. It reads like a legend instead of realistic fiction. There's little character development in that the characters seem more like ideas to me. Jack meets his foster brother and only knows that he almost killed a teacher, stayed at a place for difficult kids called Stone Mountain, and has a daughter named Jupiter. Jack and his parents represent good. They take a teen who no one wants and about whom rumors exist. They teach him to milk a cow. This milking time calms Joseph and allows him time with a cow that gives him quiet comfort, something Joseph has never had. No one has ever listened to Joseph, given him time, and gotten to know him and understand him.School is unpleasant for Joseph. Jack agrees to walk to and from school in the extreme cold just to avoid the bus with the bullies who treat Joseph badly. He has several teachers who see the true Joseph just as Jack and his family do. Unfortunately, he is picked on by default by those who judge without knowing him. Joseph only wants to meet his daughter, but he's not allowed because he's fourteen years old. This quiet novel evokes a cold climate both literally and figuratively. Joseph lives in the cold--sees and experiences little human warmth until this family. He is obsessed with finding his daughter, whom he loves. I say it reads like a legend because the characters exist in this cold atmosphere with good and "evil" characters. You really don't get to know the characters beyond what they are to represent. We have an implied lesson with this story. You won't feel as if you know these characters as you will feel pulled supernaturally into this world that orbits Jupiter. Like all Gary Schmidt novels, it is well written and worth your time to read. If he writes it, read it!

[beth.clarke · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent quick read. Not quite Wednesday Wars, but good contemporary themes.

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Joseph is a deeply scarred 14 year old father who is sent to the Hurd's home as a foster child. Jack Hurd, two years younger, welcomes Jospeh as a brother right from the start, in spite of his troubled background.The book focuses on two themes: Jack's intense loyalty to his foster brother, always "having his back," and Joseph's obsession with finding the daughter he knows he has, but has never seen. Her name is Jupiter."Orbiting Jupiter" is wildly different from Schmidt's "The Wednesday Wars." That Newbery Honor book was hilarious. This book is quite serious. The writing is flawless.

[dr_cicle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

From the first chapter, I was hooked on this book. Since the last book I read was a high fantasy, i was looking for a short contemporary and boy did I get one. This book is only 183 pages but it was an amazing book!Setting/World Building:This book takes place in a rural community that snows. Since i've never seen snow and have never lived in a rural area, I thought it was refreshing and nice to read in the summer heat. Flow/Pacing:Since this book was short, I thought that the plot was gonna be drawn out but in actuality, everything flowed very nicely. The only time I stopped reading was when I was too tired or when I was crying too much. (I cried twice).Characters:The main characters Jack and Joseph were amazing! I fell in love with both of them. At first, Joseph wasn't my favorite until he told his back story, which made me love him so much more. There only character development came from Jack and Joseph but I didn't mind that. Since it's a shorter book, I didn't expect a whole lot of character development. One thing I thought was really interesting was that the author gave character to a few of the cows, which I loved.Conflict: The conflict in the story is really interesting and doesn't feel forced. The characters dealt with everything that was happening in a way that makes sense. I hate when characters in books make decisions that literally no one in the world would make. Even though the story didn't have a happy ending, I was still happy with how everything turned out. Overall, I definitely think that this book deserves 5 stars. I think it will become one of my favorite books of the year and maybe of all time.

[michelleannlib · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A heartbreaker but really well done. Beautiful book.

[jenn88-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Twelve-year-old Jack tells the story of when Joseph comes to live with him and his parents on a farm as a foster child. They offer him a safe home, love, support and loyalty - all things he didn't have before in an abusive household or in prison. But Joseph wants nothing more than to find his baby daughter, which is difficult to do because he's only fourteen.

There was something lacking for me, but I can't figure out what it is. This book dealt with heavy issues even though it's a middle grade book, I guess, so maybe the writing didn't really coincide with what the book was about. Maybe it needed to be longer. Or have a bit more depth. The ending was predictable and convenient. But a sad read nonetheless.

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Jack, age 14, gets the news his parents are taking in a foster child, a boy Jack’s age who will share his room and chores on the farm. His parents are loving, patient, and thoughtful farmers. They will also both be going into sixth grade. But when Jack finds out Joseph had spent time in juvenile hall for trying to kill a teacher and that he is a father, Jack wonders what they’ve gotten themselves into. Joseph arrives nearly mute, his social worker warning that, because of what he’s been through in detention, he doesn’t like the color orange, to be touched, or to be approached from behind. But Joseph begins to thaws quickly, bonding with narrator, Jack, the last foster child the Hurd’s took in. Joseph share his tragic story: he fell in love with a well-to-do girl, and she became pregnant at 13. The baby, they named Jupiter, is now in foster care, too, and Joseph desperately wants to find her. There are no secrets that last very long in a small-town middle school, and word about Joseph soon travels through the halls, and bullies get to work. But Jack has Joseph’s back, even though it costs him. As time goes on, Jack learns Joseph’s whole, heart-breaking story and meets his abusive father. Then everything changes.

[jrlibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jack's family takes in a foster child, Joseph, who is 14 years old. He almost killed a teacher, he was incarcerated at a place called Stone Mountain and he has a daughter named Jupiter whom he is very anxious to find. This is a fast read sure to grab the interest of those who like tender heartbreaking stories.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Jack's family takes in Joseph, a 14 year old who has had a life full of hard knocks. He's spent time in juvie, removed from a home with an abusive father. He's a dad at 14 and has never seen his daughter, Jupiter. A quick read with lots of white space on the page. It's the story of the impact Jack and his family have had on Joseph's life and see Joseph start to open up. What a heartbreaking story. It grabbed me as I began to care about these people and worry for them at the same time.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gary Schmidt is one of my favorite authors. While this book lacked the depth of some of his others, still it is worth reading. In this tale, Schmidt beautifully handles the situation of young Joseph who is a very troubled teen. Fourteen years of age and a father of a baby girl, he also has a very long history of detention home incarcerating and inability to follow rules.When a loving family in Maine decide to take a chance and bring Joseph into their home, for the first time in his life, he is exposed to a "normal" home life. The family is very understanding and patient with him. There is a wonderful way in which Schmidt shows the healing of interactions with animals. And Joseph develops a very tender relationship with Rosie the cow. When Joseph shares the fact that he loved the girl he impregnated and that there is a little girl in the world as a result of their union. His main goal in life is to be with Jupiter. Joseph has a lot against him, some of which is his fault, but the fact that he has a worthless, abusive father certainly is out of his control. Sociologists would note that if Joseph had a better upbringing, perhaps the stint in a detention home would not have occurred.He is intelligent; he knows vulnerability and the ache that results from it; he could have a future if only he could put the bad pieces of life behind and sew a new patch of goodness in the tapestry.My only quarrel with the book is that the foster family seems to be too perfect. And, the reality is that children that have long, deep scars, do not heal overnight.Still, Schmidt does continue to shine, and his books are magical.

[kayceel_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An ultimately manipulative story about an abused foster boy who's grieving. Lovely writing, but too many "tragic hero" tropes.

[imtanner2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Terrific story about a family who takes in a boy who has had a troubled past and is trying to find a path to the future.