From the Bookshelf of Mock Newbery 2026…

Here in the Real World

Sara Pennypacker

Start date: April 1, 2020

Finish date: April 30, 2020

Discussion: Newbery 2021

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Newbery 2021

* 2021 ALA Newbery Awards
By Kristen · 23 posts · 244 views

last updated Mar 30, 2021 07:20PM

* 2021 Mock Newbery Winning Selections
By Kristen · 14 posts · 266 views

last updated Feb 16, 2021 02:44PM

What Members Thought

Nov 30, 2020 Richie Partington rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction

Richie’s Picks: HERE IN THE REAL WORLD by Sara Pennypacker, HarperCollins/Balzer and Bray, February 2020, 320 p., ISBN: 978-0-06-269895-7

What Ware accidentally heard his mother ask his father:
“Why can’t we have a normal kid?”

“The Power of Solitude
There’s a lot of power in allowing both children and adults to spend time by themselves. Experiencing solitude helps individuals learn certain tasks, think creatively, and deal with their emotions. The right amount of time spent alone can even improve e ...more

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Apr 07, 2020 Carol Royce Owen rated it it was amazing

Wow! What a special book. Sara Pennypacker is an author I've followed and loved for years, with the wonderful Clementine series, Summer of the Gypsy Moths and then the enchanting, Pax. Now she brings us Here in the Real World, both mesmerizing and hopeful. Ware is an 11 1/2 year old boy who has been overprotected by his parents. He lives in his own world, aloof from others, and content with spending time alone. But his parents view him differently, as he discovers overhearing their discussion be Wow! What a special book. Sara Pennypacker is an author I've followed and loved for years, with the wonderful Clementine series, Summer of the Gypsy Moths and then the enchanting, Pax. Now she brings us Here in the Real World, both mesmerizing and hopeful. Ware is an 11 1/2 year old boy who has been overprotected by his parents. He lives in his own world, aloof from others, and content with spending time alone. But his parents view him differently, as he discovers overhearing their discussion behind closed doors “...one kid. And he turns out so anti-social. Why can’t we have a normal kid?”

This summer had promised to be different. He was to spend it with his grandmother, known by all as Big Deal, away from Rec, his usual summer torture, where he was expected to have “meaningful social interactions.” But an accident cancels those plans, and to help his parents work extra shifts at their jobs to save to buy their house, Ware has to endure another year at Rec. Or so they think. Actually, Ware has discovered that at the crumbling church nearby, a girl is planting a garden of papaya plants. To him, the abandoned church is a castle, and daily, he skips Rec to work on fixing up the church to be his kingdom, and to be reborn as the child his parents want. He and the girl, Jolene, agree to share the place, but often Ware finds himself helping Jolene with her ever-growing garden.

When danger threatens the kingdom that they have created together, Jolene is certain they will lose all they have created, and criticizes Ware for living in “Magic Fairness Land,” when he believes they can somehow save it. “Here in the real world, bad things happen,” Jolene, exclaims, and as we find out, she knows this from experience. But Ware is all the more determined to fulfill the knights’ code of chivalry “Thou shalt do battle against unfairness whenever faced with it. Thou shalt be always the champion of the Right and the Good.” So, with those words, and the desire to bring some joy into Jolene’s life, he sets off to find a plan that will save their refuge, a place of safety for them and all the wildlife that now calls this kingdom home. ...more

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Feb 09, 2020 Claire rated it really liked it

Shelves: 9-to-11-year-old-readers, 10-to-12-year-old-readers, adults-reading-ya-lit, great-read-aloud-titles-for-all-age, curriculum-support-various, realistic-fiction, teachers-shelf, kindness, 2020

Ms Pennypacker has packed a lot in the middle grade book. This is a story of friendships, justice, community, imaginative play, habitat, economy and the role of mentors in our lives.

Ware is a quirky, dreamy kid with with lots of integrity and a desire to have Just One Friend who gets him. This is especially vital because his parents Don't get him and make no real effort to. They want him to conform to their hopes. Dad want a jock and Mom wants a social butterfly. As an introverted wimp this ain ...more

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Mar 08, 2020 Mary Louise Sanchez rated it really liked it

Shelves: realistic, underrepresented-cultures, adventure

After eleven-year-old Ware's grandma, Big Deal, breaks her hips, he can't spend his summer with her, so his parents enroll him in a daycare at the Rec, which he doesn't want to attend, but his parents think it will help him become more normal. Ware discovers it's easy to sneak away from the Rec each day and be himself working to transform the abandoned church next door into his version of a medieval castle. Ware then meets Jolene who is also different and has adopted the empty lot so that she ca ...more

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May 31, 2020 Dolores rated it it was amazing

Shelves: family, friendship, identity, strong-heroine, audio-book, secrets, middle-grade, realistic, juvenile, summer

Ware is often happiest by himself--lost in his own world. So when his parents sign him up for Rec camp, he is horrified. It is too crowded, too loud and he just doesn't fit in. But his summer takes a definite turn for the better when he meets Jolene who is building a garden in an abandoned church lot. Ware begins skipping Rec to help Jolene with her garden and to turn the wrecked church into a castle. When the little paradise they have created is threatened by the upcoming auction of the propert ...more

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Mar 15, 2020 Debbie Tanner rated it really liked it

Shelves: chapter-books, friendship, realistic-fiction, family-stories, text-to-self, making-a-change, adventure, social-issues

This is a really nice story about finding your own voice, even if it's really different from everyone else. Ware worries a lot about not fitting in. His parents are worried that he's weird and he spends a lot of time on his own. They sign him up for a rec camp for the summer and he decides he just won't go. He finds an abandoned church that's close by and there's a girl there planting papayas. He decides to turn the church into a castle. This is a lovely story of transformation and seeing things ...more

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Aug 04, 2020 Ariel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mg

Sara Pennypacker is another writer whose work I always enjoy. Ware is an 11-year-old dreamer and no one except his uncle Cyrus, a filmmaker, seems to appreciate his particular brand of dreams...not until Ware starts ditching Rec camp and remaking an abandoned lot dominated by the ruins of a church. He makes friends with Jolene, a disadvantaged, scrappy little girl who is trying to grow papaya plants in the lot. As he works to create a sanctuary for birds in the ruined lot, he beings to find = se ...more

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Apr 26, 2021 Caren rated it it was ok

Shelves: children-s-fiction, birds, 2021

I really wanted to love it, but I just didn’t.
I don’t think it was something that could really happen. So PC. I don’t think kids will check it out.
They recognize preaching when it is slammed down their throats.

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