This book is AMAZING. At some parts of the book, it takes a turn that you didn't see coming. The ending is a bit sad though.

I threw this book across the room when I finished it. I love it. You must read this.

I loved Schmidt's book, Okay for Now, and this book is just as moving and beautifully written. Both books are stories about boys who have to overcome difficult lives and the wrongful assumptions that adults sometimes make about troubled youth. It's also a touching story about love and friendship. I highly recommend this book to middle grade students, teens, and adults, especially those who work with children.

This book is a must read for everyone.
This should be required reading for all middle school and high school students. A gamut of emotions are explored in this story that touches your heart and makes a mark on your soul.
You will see kindness, bullying and the reactions to it from all sides, poverty, the value of hard work, exploration of family, love, determination, finding your place in the world, and self sacrifice.

Not a science fiction novel. This is a deeply moving early teen novel about a family in Maine which takes in a foster son, 8th grader Joseph. The story is told from the viewpoint of 6th grader Jack, the family’s own son. Joseph has had a rough life with a severely abusive father. The only good thing in his life had been his secret relationship with Madeleine, a girl his age. She got pregnant and had a daughter named Jupiter; but Madeleine died in childbirth. Joseph was basically incarcerated at a tough school for boys. He is obsessed with finding his daughter.

While this is in the library’s Teen section because of the themes, the reading level is more like 6th-8th grade. It’s not a book about teenage pregnancy. I think a lot of young people would like this, because the themes are more about how people are different on the inside from what other people judge them to be. It might be especially good for young men, because there are so few books that focus on the problems of the very young father.

This is a great book for people that like reading tragedy books. It's about a boy named jack and a boy named Joseph. Joseph comes to live with Jackes family. Joseph tried to once kill his teacher because some kids gave him pills. Then he finds out that he has a daughter and tries to find her. Though he can never raise her. Its a heartbreaking story though its a short read and its really good. I really Recommend it.

I read this years back and still remember how it made me feel. "Orbiting Jupiter" in three words: Sincere, Poignant, Real. I highly recommend it!

Such a painful story to read! I hate to say it was enjoyable but it was. Very quick read.

A beautiful and gut wrenching story of the friendship between two teenage boys and a series of tragedies that mark one of them deeply. This relatively fast read touches on abusive relationships and institutions, teenage pregnancy and parenthood, fostering and adoption as well as the challenges of overcoming a label of "the bad kid". Everyone should have a friend who has their back.

A 2017-2018 Missouri Truman Readers Award preliminary nominee (grades 6-8).

Joseph is in foster care. Joseph is 14 and has a daughter that he desperately wants to see. He is taken in by a nice family, a married couple and their son, who try to help him. The family lives on a farm near a small town.

This book was depressing and maybe a little hopeful, but mostly for me depressing. I kind of wondered at the intensity of Joseph and Maddie's relationship, but that might be due to the immaturity of my own 14-year old.