Author: Jennifer Richard Jacobson
Genre: Contemporary, Middle Grade
Trigger Warnings: Gun violence, death of a child
My Rating: 5 Stars
Synopsis
When a family buys a house in a struggling town for just one dollar, they’re hoping to start over — but have they traded one set of problems for another?Twelve-year-old Lowen Grover, a budding comic-book artist, is still reeling from the shooting death of his friend Abe when he stumbles across an article about a former mill town giving away homes for just one dollar. It not only seems like the perfect escape from Flintlock and all of the awful memories associated with the city, but an opportunity for his mum to run her very own business. Fortunately, his family is willing to give it a try. But is the Dollar Program too good to be true? The homes are in horrible shape, and the locals are less than welcoming. Will Millville and the dollar house be the answer to the Grovers’ troubles? Or will they find they’ve traded one set of problems for another? From the author of Small as an Elephant and Paper Things comes a heart-tugging novel about guilt and grief, family and friendship, and, above all, community.
Review
A special thank you to Netgalley and Candlewick Press for providing a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.Jennifer Richard Jacobson's The Dollar Kids features five families of various backgrounds moving to a rural dying town in America and the adventures of their first year, especially that of Lowen Grover, a twelve year old who is running from the shooting death of his friend, which he feels responsible for. The portrayal of Lowen's grief for Abe is extremely well written and realistic. It is not too extreme for middle grade, but still is a deep book and a great read for readers of any age. Lowen's behavior when trying to come to terms with the death is hard hitting, and it influences his family's behavior as well. Lowen's grief, even months after the event, is well portrayed and hard hitting without becoming too dark. The entire family was impacted in different ways, all of which are explored at various points within the book. This even impacts how the characters treat each other, and explains many motivations and interactions between the family members and even other individuals. The Clay and Lowen relationship is very interesting, especially how Lowen's view of his older brother changes. Lowen's view of everyone is really interesting, especially as he discovers motivations as they are revealed in the book for the reader.
I really like how Jacobson took this idea of dollar homes and developed this world out of it, a setting that could be so many towns. The town was well described, both with physical descriptions of architecture and in the relationships and interactions between characters. The distrust of newcomers is a real thing in a town like this, and these emotions were really well described with Lowen as the outsider. The discussion of race is interesting, but I wish that the Grover family was not the only white family of the dollar families, since this could have been an easy adjustment to have a POC as the main character. Still, the ideas of outsiders coming in and destroying the town was a well done and enjoyable element. The mix between the old and the new, of ideas and people, is well presented and fits in perfectly with the average small town chosen as the setting.
My number one problem with this book is the vast amount of characters and how many of the unimportant characters are not described well enough to tell apart, even when it matters. The representation was amazing, but I honestly lost track of most of the dollar families. I have no idea which kids were siblings after the families moved into houses. I didn't even remember some of the names while I was reading, which caused problems when I literally had no clue who this was. It is definitely hard to keep track of everyone, and it does impact movement and understanding of the plot at some points.
Maybe it is because crowdfunding was not a thing when I was twelve and reading primarily MG, but I loved the use of crowdfunding and how it was incorporated to fit this book into modern society. Many elements rely on an old fashioned town, but this helped bring the book into the modern world. Lowen and Sami were absolutely adorable, and Dylan was a really interesting character as well. This book is a great example of a later aged MG, discussing some serious topics but still in a light way. I adored the read and it is definitely worth your time for any age reader.
This book is so different from all the other contemporary middle grade fiction I've read recently, and I'm not just talking about the fact that both of Lowen's parents are alive. Seriously though, I definitely would recommend this read.
What books have you been reading recently?
Thanks for reading!
Alyssa
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