Messed Up

by Janet Nichols Lynch

Book Overview

A fifteen-year-old Mexican American has experienced a series of tough breaks before finding himself completely on his own. He decides to try to keep his lack of a home a secret from his school while... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823421856
• ISBN13: 9780823421855
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Holiday House
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

An abandoned teen cares for himself

R.D. is a fifteen-year-old Mexican-American boy with Cheyenne ancestry who's had a very rough life. His father abandoned him. His mother is in prison. His grandmother has recently deserted him. And to top it all off, his grandmother's longtime boyfriend, Earl, who has continued to care for R.D. after her departure, suddenly drops dead. To avoid being sent to a group home, R.D. pretends his grandmother is still around to care for him and struggles to take care of himself, supporting himself by forging Earl's signature on his Social Security and pension checks. I've read multiple young-adult novels with the premise of a teen pretending he or she has not been abandoned in order to avoid foster care, but what makes this story unique is R.D. He's a very strong and sympathetic protagonist. It's clear he feels the harshness of his life deeply, but he never surrenders to despair. It's fascinating reading about how he learns how to take care of himself, and in the process gets a handle on how to deal with school and making himself into a person who has a chance to succeed in life, in spite of terrible odds in a world filled with gangs, drugs and violence. This book is written in a clear, uncluttered style that never intrudes on the moving story. It's in first-person point of view, and R.D.'s personality leaps off the page in his thoughts, his reactions to the dark world around him, and the particular language he uses, such as "sez" for "says," "cept" for "except," and slang like "homies" and "saggin-and-baggin." From page one there is a strong sense of what a basically decent person R.D. is. He clearly wants to stand back from life and be an observer, to survive by staying uninvolved in the terrible situations around him, but his heart won't let him. This is vividly illustrated when he sees a small girl getting beat up by a much larger girl, and he can't refrain from stepping in and stopping the fight when he imagines in his mind, "the little girl's head cracked open, blood streaming over the sidewalk." The death scene with his caretaker Earl is macabre and horrifying, but rather than crumbling from the strain of losing yet one more caretaker, R.D.'s response is to find a way to take care of himself--while at the same time feeling guilty that his need to survive is stronger than his grief. It is always great to see a YA novel with a male protagonist, but especially welcome that this author has created a compelling hero so vividly alive he becomes a dear friend by the end of the book.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

R.D. never knew his father, and his mother is in prison. He was raised by his grandmother, but she up and left him with her boyfriend, Earl, so she could run off with a hairy truck driver. R.D. has promised to clean up his act and get through the eighth grade this year for sure, but it's the first day of school and things aren't starting off very well since he's suspended for fighting by lunch time. Earl tries to keep R.D. out of trouble and encourages him to stick with it at school, but he has some serious health issues dating back to his exposure to Agent Orange during his time in Vietnam. Ever since R.D.'s grandmother left, Earl has been having more frequent attacks that leave him gasping for breath and sending R.D. in search of his inhaler. Just a few short weeks into the school year, R.D. gets off the bus and discovers Earl on the bathroom floor, dead. With no way to contact his grandmother and no one else to turn to, R.D. decides to try to handle things himself. He deals with the funeral home people, handles the questions from nosy neighbors, and manages through trial and error to keep himself fed and the bills paid. Surprisingly, this forced independence turns R.D. into a more reliable student at school and has him learning things about life he never would have thought possible. MESSED UP by Janet Nichols Lynch is a heart-warming and riveting read. R.D. starts out as an underachieving, gangster wannabe who turns his life around through handwork and determination. Readers will learn right along with him as he deals with the everyday, practical aspects of survival. He learns to shop for groceries and clothes and teaches himself how to cook and clean. For someone who pretty much let the world just happen around him, he takes on the challenge of making his own way and succeeds. MESSED UP is an excellent addition to any library or classroom collection. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

A Pleasant Surprise

"Messed Up" is one of those books that catches you by surprise. I am an English teacher at a low income area school that provides education for both middle AND high school students, all in one building. I have a few male students that "hate" to read, one being a Mexican American 16 year old. As I started to read some young adult novels for pleasure and for research, I found one book that I thought he might like. After asking him to please five it a try, he came back to be 4 days later and said he had finished the 400 page book! I then realized that he didn't hate to read, he just needed a book that he could relate to. That being said, I was in the local library and came across "Messed Up." I remembered seeing the book at Barnes & Noble awhile ago but for some reason it was not at the top of my list to buy. Since it was sitting there at the library, I borrowed it. Okay onto my review. First of all, since the book mentioned that the main character is Mexican American, I assumed the author was going to fill the pages with a minority that is struggling in a white society, how he doesn't fit in because of his nationality, etc. But I was wrong. The experiences J.D. goes through in the story makes a person realize that this could happen to anybody. There are many kids out there-- white, black, Spanish-- that come from very rough home life. Their parents are alcoholics, or their parents are separated. Or both parents are so messed up that the kids are stuck in foster homes or left to live with elderly grandparents. I liked this book because at first it reminded me of a movie I saw called, "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead." J.D. comes home one day late from school to find his grandfather dead on the bathroom floor. While he does the right thing by calling 911, he decides to wait to contact his grandfather's sister since he remembers how mean she is. Somehow he convinces the police that have arrived that he isn't alone. From there he decides not to tell anyone about the death of his grandfather. Somehow J.D. gets away with living on his own without anyone realizing that a 15 year old is living in a big house by himself. The majority of the story is following J.D. around as he learns how to survive on his own. Simple tasks, such as remembering to take a shower, to doing laundry, to how to bake a potato, to remembering to put milk in the frig so it doesn't go sour-- these are all the things J.D. learns how to do on his own. I found myself laughing at some of his mistakes while sympathizing with him at the same time. I also like the language of the novel. The author really does a good job at making it feel like we are reading about a teenage boy. She uses incorrect spelling on purpose to give the story an authentic feel. J.D. would use words like, "sez" instead of "says" or "cuz" instead of "because." I think students that read this book will relate better to the character because of the language that he uses. While this book may not be challeng