Orbiting Jupiter facts for kids
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| Author | Gary D. Schmidt |
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| Cover artist | Carmen Spitznagel/Trevillion Images (photographer); Sharismar Rodriguez (design) |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
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Publication date
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October 6, 2015 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-0-544-46222-9 |
| OCLC | 948287511 |
| LC Class | PZ7.S3527 Or 2015 |
Orbiting Jupiter is a 2015 young adult fiction novel written by Gary D. Schmidt, the author of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and Okay for Now. The novel is set in rural Eastham, Maine, during the fall and winter of an unnamed modern-day school year.
Synopsis
Jackson (Jack) Hurd narrates his experience while his family is fostering Joseph Brook, a fourteen-year-old boy who served a month's sentence in the fictional Stone Mountain juvenile detention center. Joseph is a teenage father who signed his parental rights away to allow his daughter Jupiter to be placed for adoption. Shortly after signing away his rights, he took unmarked yellow pills and assaulted a teacher, for which he was sent to Stone Mountain. The novel begins with Mrs. Stroud, the social worker assigned to Joseph's case, telling the Hurd family specific rules for dealing with Joseph
Characters
- Key children
- Joseph Brook – 14-year-old father, served time in Stone Mountain after his conviction for assaulting a teacher. Fostered by the Hurd family.
- Jackson (Jack) Hurd – 12-year-old child, narrator
- Madeline Joyce – 13-year-old (when she met Joseph) mother of Jupiter, attended school in Andover. Both of her parents were lawyers so she spent a lot of time by herself .
- Jupiter Joyce – daughter of Joseph and Madeline
- Adults
- Mr. Brook – Joseph's father
- Mr. and Mrs. Hurd – Jackson's parents and foster parents to other children
- Mrs. Stroud – social worker
- Hurd farm animals
- Dahlia – cow
- Quintus Sertorius – horse
- Rosie – Joseph's favorite cow
- Eastham Middle School adults
- Mr. Canton – Vice-principal
- Mr. Collum – 8th Grade Science
- Mr. D'Ulney – 6th/7th/8th Grade Mathematics (pre-Algebra)
- Mrs. Halloway – 6th Grade Language Arts
- Mr. Haskell – bus driver
- Mr. Oates – 6th Grade Social Studies teacher
- Coach Swieteck – Physical Education. "Coach had lost both his legs to a land mine in Vietnam a long time ago", matching the description of Doug Swieteck's oldest brother Lucas in Schmidt's previous novel Okay for Now.
- Eastham Middle School students
- Brian Boss – 8th Grade bully
- Ernie Hupfer – 6th-grade rider of Haskell's bus
- Danny Nations – 6th-grade rider of Haskell's bus
- Jay Perkins – 8th Grade bully
- Nick Porter – 8th Grade bully
- John Wall – 6th-grade rider of Haskell's bus
