Review: The Dollar Kids

The Dollar Kids by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While I had a little bit of trouble connecting with the story and characters at the very beginning, I was quickly caught up in Lowen's struggle to overcome the guilt he felt in the death of the boy who lived across the hall, and the Grover family's struggle to start over in a small town where apparently not everyone welcomed them.

There is a lot going on in this book with it's ensemble case of characters, but I think it is generally all pulled together pretty well. I thought the idea of a family buying a "dollar house" (a foreclosed, rundown house sold for only a $1, with the stipulation the purchaser perform repairs and improvements within a year) very interesting, and though the mixed reactions from the locals were spot on: some would be welcoming, some would assume they were poor, and many would regard them with suspicion as "outsiders".

Although Lowen's father remained a bit of a stranger due to his staying in the city for much of the book, I thought the characters of the rest of the family were fairly well-developed, particularly Lowen and his mother. I could relate to his mother's dream of her own business, and to feeling like an outsider in a small-town. The story touched on so many things. Initially it seemed to be all about Lowen's guilt (which I liked seeing that he used his art to work through), but it was also very much about friendship, with Lowen finally understanding there are different types of friendship and realizing he and Abe were friends, and gradually building a friendship with Dylan. It was also about starting over, working hard, overcoming obstacles, and how a dying town finally came together and reinvented itself.

I really enjoyed this and will definitely recommend it!

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