Do Not Pass Go

by Kirkpatrick Hill

Deet's world turns upside down when his father is arrested for drug use. It doesn't seem possible that kind, caring Dad could be a criminal! After all, he only took the pills to stay awake so he could work two jobs. Now what will happen? How will Deet be able to face his classmates? Where will they get money? And most importantly, will Dad be okay in prison?Hurt, angry, and ashamed, Deet doesn't want to visit his father in jail. But when Mom goes back to work, Deet starts visiting Dad after school. It's frightening at first, but as he adjusts to the routine, Deet begins to see the prisoners as people with stories of their own, just like his dad. Deet soon realizes that prison isn't the terrifying place of movies and nightmares. In fact, Dad's imprisonment leads Deet to make a few surprising discoveries -- about his father, his friends, and himself.With moving realism, Kirkpatrick Hill brings to light the tumultuous experience of having a parent in jail in this honest and stirring story of a young man forced to grow up quickly.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Middle Grade, School, Childrens, Family

Paperback

First published January 23, 2007

About the author

Kirkpatrick Hill lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. She was an elementary school teacher for more than thirty years, most of that time in the Alaskan "bush." Hill is the mother of six children and the grandmother of eight. Her three earlier books, Toughboy and Sister, Winter Camp, and The Year of Miss Agnes, have all been immensely popular. Her fourth book with McElderry Books, Dancing at the Odinochka, was a Junior Library Guild Selection. Hill's visits to a family member in jail inspired her to write Do Not Pass Go.

Reviews

[Tyler Haney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having a law-abiding father in jail. You'd probably think it would never happen. In this book, yes, it happened. The protagonist, Deet, is like every ordinary child. Happy. Having fun. That is, until his father is arrested for using drugs. But he just took 2 pills to stay awake at work! To most, it seems hardly fair. This fiction book details how a boy has to go through life after his is arrested for drug use. P.S. This is a GREAT book.
****SPOILERS AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK****
The book starts off in a Garage, with Deet in the process of cleaning/working on a new Mercedes, belonging to a possible family friend. His dad (This part of the book is before the arrest.) comes in the garage, and has a conversation with Deet, who says the garage isn't a "Mercedes-type garage," but a "garage for old trucks." After the conversation,(Please note: this is a Third-Person Point of View book.) there are some comments made about Deet's father. One of them is, he hates bumper stickers. It also tells some parts from the past: When Deet was younger, he'd go into the garage to help his father. Also, needless to say, there was a calendar which was never taken down because companies don't "make calendars like it" anymore. (If you read this book, you'll figure out the pictures on the calendar soon enough...) After Deet leaves the garage, he works on his homework for Mr. Hodges, where he has to pick a quote, and explain why he chose it. (No, not from an AR book, but various quotes spoken by various famous people, i.e. Winston Churchill. Also, you explain it in an essay.) After doing his homework, Dad asks Deet to hold a ratchet...which is 75 lb. He briefly did more homework, he ate dinner with his family, fixing a picture stack, (Someone spilled Kool-Aid on it.) it moves onto the next chapter. After Deet is on the bus, and the first one to be picked up, (I can relate to this...) the driver picks up Nelly, whom is Deet's friend. After this, the book explains the places Deet lives in, and their history: His family used to own a log cabin, but before they owned it, they had a trailer. When P.J. and Jam (Deet's sisters.) were born, Dad built a frame edition to the side of the house, which ruined the "log cabin" feel, and Dad never got around painting it. The book comments that Deet was glad you couldn't see the cabin from the road.
Once Nelly, who is like a friend, is on board the bus, (For his home, needless to say, it's in the middle of his father's junkyard...)he and Deet had a little conversation, which Deet says he didn't do his math homework...luckily, there was an assembly during math class. According to the book, after Deet and Nelly's house, all the houses were better than the last, with each backyard looking like a "picture from a magazine." Later after, at school, According to the book, Deet's locker is right next to his homeroom, which is, as it appears, Mr. Hodges. He didn't like talk, like small talk, like, "Hey, how's it going?" "How are you?" "Hi, man, what's going on?" Those things. Though his mom kept urging Deet to make friends, Deet is... a loner. At least, that's what his Dad says. However, in Deet's mind, he didn't nessecerrily know if he was a loner or not. It's just that none of the kids were interested in the things he was interested in. Which is a big problem for his Mom, probably. And Deet wasn't interested in their lives, either. Also, the book says that when Deet comes home, you never know which book he comes home with. Maybe he'll bring a 39 Clues book home. Maybe Ranger's Apprentice. Maybe even the Magic Thief. (All not commented in the book.) Who knows? After a short little thing about how people in town checked out books, and Deet asking himself why he never meets them, the books says Deet is just different. That's all. Soon after the book comments on this, Nelly asks if Deet if take the 2nd bus to help with math equations, but Deet unfortunately said no. However, he said he'd go on the phone and talk him through it. I forgot to mention one thing: When Mr. Hodges hands back quotations homework, it includes a comment made by him.
On the way to Grandpa's house, he looked for quotes, and it reveals that Grandpa's face looks like. (Without a picture...sorry if you had your hopes up about that...) His face was "rock hard, and there weren't many wrinkles." That's all I'll say. It also explains that his grandpa can make sarcasm-like comments, like "Born in a barn?" So, after a few short conversations, Deet leaves the house, and we go onto the next chapter.
I'll leave off here. This was a fascinating book to read. 5/5 because, well... it was unlike one of those First-Person POV books, being Third-Person. (Despite my first review being a book from First-Person POV, if you remember Prisoner B-3087) I'd recommend this book to, well, people who are probably used to third-person POV books. Now, this is probably an obvious statement: Do not do drugs, even if you want to stay awake.

[Educating Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do Not Pass Go is a real quick read. The print is large, the chapters are digestible, and the main character is a boy named Deet. Three reasons that make it a good book for reluctant readers, especially boys.


Deet has a great relationship with his family, even if he tends to be the mature one. His mom and dad are both pretty impulsive, living moment to moment, paycheck to paycheck. And his two sisters are really two young to be anything but kids. Deet's pretty okay with all of this because for the most part things always gets taken care of, one way or the other.

But then, Deet's dad gets arrested for drugs. Evidently in order to keep up with his two jobs, Dad began to rely on uppers to stay awake. Living in a small town, Deet is terrified his peers will tease him - everything is published in the town paper. Plus, his father was the only source of income, how will they survive.

Everyone in the family has to make changes: Deet understands what it's like to be in his parent's shoes, his folks learn that they have to make some changes in budgeting, and Deet's friends realize that sometimes a bad decision is not the end of the world.

I think that this book was trying to be poignant but bit off more than it could chew. The moral, that just because you make a bad decision doesn't mean you're a bad person, was a little too black and white when we're dealing with people going to jail/prison. I think that it's a heavy topic that needs more substance than what this book was able to give. With that being said, I do believe that some of my students will really love it because their age prevents much abstract thought.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do Not Pass Go by Kirkpatrick Hill is another one of our state award nominees. I'm down to two books now, and I really need to finish them. I really enjoyed Do Not Pass Go, but I think it will take a special kind of student in my kids' age group to really appreciate it. Very philosophical and with a little bit of heavy material, some students will find the book out of reach. Deet's family is a good-hearted family. Their financial situation is not the best, but his Dad works hard to provide. Working two jobs has been difficult on him and he begins to take some pills a coworker gives him in order to stay awake. A broken headlight draws the attention of the local police and Deet's dad is arrested on drug possession charges. Deet struggles with all the different feelings that would overcome a 13-year-old boy in this situation. Deet is a bit more insightful than I would expect most kids that age, and certainly more responsible, but story touches you emotionally, and I think it is a good book. It might have been better in the YA category, instead of the Intermediate, but I still enjoyed the book.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book for your reluctant readers. Deet is in High School, but is considered a "loner" - doesn't like to be noticed for anything. Deet's father is caught using drugs and sent to prison - Deet must deal with this at school and his home life is changed dramatically. The loss of his father's paycheck and his mother having to go back to work forces Deet to accept responsibilities he didn't have before. Deet soon realizes that his parents weren't as terrible parents as he used to beieve they were - it takes a lot of effort to keep a household organized. One of the major influences in Deet's life is his English teacher, Mr. Hodges. He introduces Deet to quotes and Deet soon discovers that no matter what he is facing in his life, someone has faced a situation almost like it. Great story - lets you see another side of having a family member in prison.

[spetch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Deet used to be normal, but then his dad went to jail and Deet's world changes for better and worse.

Passage from page 229:
"Sometimes when it is raining they called Nelly to come over. He taught them to play poker, which was a lot of fun, and somtimes they played Monopoly. The first time Deet got the card that said, "Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200," he and Sheena looked at each other, but it didn't hurt like it used to.
They knew jail wasn't funny, and maybe they would always wince when people made a joke of it, but they were a lot tougher than they used to be.
Jail wasn't the end of the world."

Response: This passage is my favorite part. It is because it is meaningful and taught me a lesson, that jail is not the end of the world. You can adapt to anything.

[Josh Newhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish 3.5 stars was an option... slooooooooooowwwwwwww start... at times the book got too precious in its language.... I never felt the main character was a real kid... but in the end something about the book won me over... yes it was a little simplistic at times, and the main conceit that this father would be in jail as long as he was for what he was arrested doing without being bailed out or released to me was a stretch...

But in the end it humanized jail in a small town and gave readers the sense that some mistakes can be overcome...

Sad thoughts about people revisiting jail as a pattern... also some dated things like cassette tapes and snail mail...

Interesting read in some ways...

[James Hoch · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Do Not Pass Go" by Kirkpatrick Hill. I really enjoyed this book. The chapters were short and weren't hard to understand. The first few chapters are kind of slow, but I was quickly drawn in. Deet is the normal kid at school. After Deet's dad goes to Jail for drug use, Deet has to take on new responsibilities. He realizes how important his dad was to him and how much the word "Jail" has changed to him. I would recommend this book to teenagers and younger readers, because it was a short, easy read.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed Deet's quotations project, it felt like a device upon which to hang the story when it should have been more of a "snip it." I never quite felt that Deet was real, he seems very passive here, while the other characters are just ciphers.

[J. Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aw just a cute and enjoyable read.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure I got this book in my apartment lobby in NYC. Someone had left a bunch of different books there and I grabbed a few, and this was one of them. And then it came back to SF with my other boxes of books that I didn't get to sort through myself when packing. And I'm glad it did. It's a bit of a quirky book to have. The format and writing seems to be for kids in maybe middle school. But there was a pretty dark and morbid sentence in there about the main character wanting to slit his throat if he lived in the junkyard and I thought that was probably too much for a young kid to read. But it's in this book, along with some other mature topics, but also important topics that kids can start thinking about. I liked how the main character was presented. He was mature for his age and learned to be responsible on his own. I guess I can relate in some way.

When I started reading it, I thought JG would like it because it mentioned a car service shop, being responsible and cleaning, reading, music, cats, writing essays about quotes, and just a way of thinking by the main character and topics that I thought he'd like. Even though he ended things with me shortly after I started reading it (or maybe right before I started reading it) I still want to send it to him to read. I think he'd enjoy it a little. Just as a story that has some tough spots and hope.

“Deet had been looking at that junkyard all his life, but he never saw it without a sort of mental shudder. If he’d had to live there he was sure he would have slit his own throat by now.” pg. 28 [isn’t this a kid’s book? This is pretty dark and morbid to write in a book meant for youth.]

“What was the point of praying, anyway? If this god was all-powerful, all-knowing, he knew about someone’s troubles already, didn’t he? Once Deet had asked Grandpa about this. Grandpa’s eyes had snapped blue sparks. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘you can go to hell for asking questions like that just as sure as you can from stealing.’ Well, if he was a good god, he wouldn’t have to be asked to do a good thing for someone, would he? He’d just do it. Mom said the good thing about Deet was that he’d do stuff without being asked. She said it was twice as good to have a favor if you didn’t have to ask for it. Shouldn’t this god be like that? Should he have to be begged?” pg. 39

“Some things were invisible until they happened to you.” pg. 60

“Deet tried to picture his dad reading. He’d never seen him read anything but the newspaper. Deet used to think he could read all day if he had a chance, but once he did, and it made him feel half-sick and woozy. He had a hard time getting back to reality when he finally came up for air. It was a very odd feeling.” pg. 115

“Dad had entered a whole new world, a world they never knew existed, and he was finding it very interesting. It was making him think new things, look at his life in a different way. That was not something any of them had expected to happen when Dad went to jail.” pg. 117

“‘We got another new guy in the cell today. He’s had a lot of trouble. He says all he wants out of life now is to have a house and a dog. He says he’s too old to get married or have kids, but he’ll be happy if he can have his own house. And a dog. Doesn’t seem like much to ask for out of life, does it?’
Deet could see an old guy sitting on the steps of a small white house, a shaggy old dog by his knee, both of them looking at the sunset. Deet felt sad thinking about someone who dreamed about the ordinary things everyone took for granted, as if they were unbelievably precious.” pg. 127-128

“And other people, who you thought of as enemies, some of them turned out to be friends too. Like I thought prison guards were all guys who like to shove people around. But there’s Mr. Tobolowsky. I don’t know how he got to be a guard, but he’s just this little skinny guy who sees inside people. He sees things other people don’t think about. Like he told this one woman, ‘It must be hard to work and take care of a baby and visit here all the time.’ She just about melted, to think someone would notice. And he talks to me, and to Sheena. He told me what a nice guy my dad was, and I felt like someone had given me a present. Because even though my dad is in jail, someone noticed what he was like, he was a real person to Mr. Tobolowsky. And he asked Sheena how her brother was getting along. He told her he was worried because Billy, her brother, is very depressed. He notices things about people, and he worries about them.
So that’s another good thing I learned, not to dislike someone before you know them.” pg. 201-202

“Maybe some people really like taking care of other people.” pg. 217

[J.M. Sample · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, a solid work of young adult fiction that provides great insight into the mind of a child who is coping with having a parent in prison. That said, I think the novel would have been better if told in the first-person rather than third-person limited. We tap so deeply into Deet’s thoughts and emotions that I found myself often forgetting that I wasn’t reading a first-person narrative. I also had trouble pinpointing Deet’s age, as I don’t recall learning it in the novel. I’m guessing he hovers around 10-12, since he’s old enough to go alone to visit his Dad in jail, but retains a meekness and naiveté in his thoughts and observations that make him sound too young to be a teen. I can tell this is a very character-forward novel, as the plot itself is a bit thin, but the characters’ lives and personalities make up for that.

[Adam Sauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a kid named Deet and his father that goes to jail for using drugs to stay awake at work. Deet has to protect his siblings from this since they don't understand why their dad is gone. My favorite part of this book is when Deet has to hide the fact of their dad getting arrested from his sisters P.J. And Jam and he says that their dad hade a burnt out headlight and then a family friend comes to visit and says that she had the same thing happen to her and then the girls ask her if she had a burnt out headlight too and she gets very confused but sees Deets plan and goes along with it. Overall its a good book and if you like non-fiction books you'll like this book by Kirkpatrick Hill. 4/5

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really think this book was good it was addicting i really liked the main character deet he was funny and really really really smart. this book was about a kid that was mechanic he was 17 years old and he had rough goals to go through. His goals were to go to collage as a mechanic and run his dads job. and it turned out pretty great. and he it was a good ending the it wasn't what i expected but it was a pretty good book to read.

[Sarah Barron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do not Pass Go was an interesting book towards the end. The beginning was slow and the middle of the book felt repetitive. The main character feels as if he is not a real kid. He felt dull and robotic in the beginning. But in the middle of the book he had more humility and he had more emotions than when he did in the start. This book was not for me, but I could recommend it for some of my friends.

[Zeko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been successful on showing how the affects on losing someone can prove to show how much this affects the characters. This book shows how their journey is hard but has a good ending. I recommend this to anyone whose looking for a great book to read.

[Tamara Bernazky-Alm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great life lessons in judgment, will read with my 8 year old

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it's a good book and the people who would like to read it are readers who like a tragedy story.

[Chase]

Good book Very interesting and Great twist

[Coad Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I disliked this immensely

[Cryz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this is a book that is very specific taste, I personally love the book because I can relate to the characters a lot. But it doesn't have much of a climax and the ending felt rushed.

[Tacoma Malloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do not pass go was about a boy named Deet and one day something goes wrong with his family. Deet lives in a small town. His dad works two jobs and his mom stays at home and takes care of everyone. till one day it all gets taken away.
When his dad gets arrested every thing is ruined. Deet is embarrassed to go to school and ashamed of his dad. now what do they do, he misses his dad and wants to see him but is to scared to go into the jail. Deet does it and sees his dad. running on a tight schedule they work it out.
i think this book is a 5 star because of how real life and detailed it is and showing how Deet is feeling is very good dialog.

[Kenny H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, this book was pretty average. Nothing really special happened in this book, but it was still interesting. It`s a decent book.

[Melissa Delatorre]

Well, you might think that just because a father is a kind and loyal guy, you can't always be right. In this book Deet's dad was a kind and loyal man, but actually his dad went to jail because his dad was actually took drugs! This book was great especially for how Deet had to deal with everything.

This book takes place in many places. This book starts off with Deet cleaning hi family's friends car. Well they had their small talks. Then days passed and well cops arrive to arrest Deet's dad just because his dad takes 2 pills at work to stay awake.After Deet didn't know what do do because he had. father in jail and he thought classmates would make fun of him. Well days passed and Deet started going daily to jail to see his father, which he started getting used to.The conflict of this book is person vs. self because Deet is very confused about life because of what happened to his dad so, now he has to challenge himself to go see his father in jail.

I felt bad for Deet in how he thought that just because his father is in jail his friends will probably laugh at him. Well first of all, people who don't respect you, then those persons aren't reallly your friends. Also, Deet could of been even more scared which would mean that he wouldn't want to go to school anymore. None of that is nobodys business, so nobody should be making fun of him. I wish that Deet's dad never went to jail. Poor Deet is suffering just because his dad is in jail and he thinks classmates will probably make fun of him. Deet's dad shouldn't have gone to jail if it was a huge mistake he made.

Why would classmates make fun of someone who is having a really hard time? I.would really hate the especially because then Deet won't want to go to school. Also, people that would make fun of Deet are just bullies, which that would interfere with Deet's education even more. The major event that changed Deet just because his father ended up at jail for a mistake he made. That whole problem made it worse for Deet and his education. Then if Deet doesn't want to go to school than he won't be able to become someone in life.

I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars because I loved reading how Deet survived everything that was going on even with his dad in jail. I recommend this book to people who like reading a life story of others. Also remember dont judge others just mind your own business and everything will be ok.

[marcy marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever had a time where something so shocking happen to you that you where so scared to even talk about it? Well in this case a young boynamed Deet has already been through this but his backstory just might be a little to shocking to hear.This is a fiction book .

The story starts off at a garage where Deet is cleaning a car for a family friend . Then a major events start starts to happen Deet father gets arrested just for taking 2pills a day just to stay awake....The conflict of the story is either person vs self because deet had to deal with his emotions about his father being in jail or it could be person vs society because deet also had to face his class mate who might have made fun of him or might not (you need to read to find out) ........ The conflict of the story is that big dramatic part about deets day getting arrested.

(The reason why I don't want to tell you the person vs .... is because I want to make you curious for you to go an read the book your self.)What I did really enjoy about the book was the conflict I feel that the more dramatic and shocking the conflict is it will make the reader be wanting to continue reading which could as be the attention grabber.

Now I'm not going to use the word "what I didn't like about the book" because that wouldn't be true I enjoyed every second of reading this book so instead I'm going to say what the author could of done better with the book is not put to much problem one deets back and what I mean Is that after is father went to jail deet had the thought that his friends would laugh at him which I guess is no that I think of it is kinda not a bad thing that the author put too much on his shoulder because it could be showing us who deet is and what I mean is like is he the type of person who will break down or will he fight his way through this (read to find out ).

I Would rate this book a 5 because I loved reading every second of this book beginning to end this book took my breath away. I would recommend this book to any one who love a good dramatic book to read that will have you at the edge of your seat .

[Lillian Brinkerhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book "Do Not Pass Go" by Kirkpatrick Hill was a outstanding book. I think it is a very hard place for a kid to be in. I love this book 5/5 stars definitely.

[76Tinkerbell34]

The main characters in this book are Deet, his two sisters, his dad, and his mother. This book takes place in a rural area where there aren’t that many people and it seems that the riches live in one place and the poor lives in another.
Deets father works to jobs and by the end of the day he is extremely tired. One day Deets dad was driving to his second job with one of his headlights out and the police had pulled him over. When the police pulled him over they looked in his car and they happened to find pack of marijuana in the back. Deets dad confessed and said that he was taking them to give himself energy to go back and forth to work each day, and that he kept doing it because it worked. Afterwards Deet thought that his life was going to be different forever, but that wasn’t the case. He found out that as time passed things got easier, and that the same thing has happened to two of his class mates. Now Deet has to do all the house work and take care of his two sisters while their mother is at work.
Another important thing about this book is Deets homework. For homework everyday they are given a “quotation book”, and they have to respond to a quotation. Everything that happened in his life he found a quotation for, so he would write about it and his teacher would respond. Month’s later Deets father was released from jail and everything was back to normal!

I think that the author’s point of writing this book is show that everybody has troublesome times in their lifetimes even the rich people. And that it will be over soon. So real all you have to do is keep your head up and live your life the way it is. :)

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one instance where I feel the above description does not do the novel justice. Most readers realize that these blurbs are meant to get your interest without giving away everything, but there are many more elements to this story that are more interesting than Deet visiting his father in jail. Don't get me wrong, the approach the novel takes to this subject is very compassionate and could be helpful to someone who's parent/other relative/friend has landed in jail for a non-violent crime.

The novel is set in a small town in Alaska, so when someone gets arrested everyone recognizes the name in the paper. This is something Deet is terribly afraid of, but Deet is terribly afraid of quite a few things. Deet's introduction actually establishes him as being a bit OCD and critical of the way his parents manage their lives. As the story progresses, Deet learns a lot about what it takes to keep up a household while keeping up with school.

One of my favorite elements from this book is the conversation between Deet and his English teacher. Throughout the novel Deet keeps a quotations notebook for class. He selects quotations and writes about that quote, and his English teacher responds. It's is through this "conversation" that Deet reveals what the experience has taught him.

As might be noticeable from my disconnected thoughts above, I'm having trouble writing about this book. I really enjoyed it. It's a book that I want to tell all about so to not ruin it I'm trying to keep my fingers in check.

This is a 2010-2011 Sunshine State Young Reader's Award nominee.

[Barb Keltner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful book is about a nice family that's struggling to make ends meet, the very kind and loving dad is working 2 jobs, and then he's arrested for drug possession. He had just started taking some drug a friend recommended to help him stay awake since he was working so many hours. So here he's caught -- has to work 2 jobs to try to make ends meet but can't stay awake to do it so he uses the illegal drug to try to help that and now is in jail where he's making no money and his family is in a worse situation. I think this is the first book I've read about this situation.

But the interesting thing is that when the middle school age son visits him each day, he learns from the stories his dad tells him that many of the prisoners are just regular people who did something they shouldn't have done to try to make a bad situation better. Even the guy who murdered his father -- his father had been beating and abusing his wife and all the kids for years, even when they were grown, and this guy finally made it stop. And the boy also gets to know the families of other prisoners as they spend time together in the waiting room and is very understanding of their situations too and even comes to think of some of them as friends.

One additional neat thing the author did was have the boy have an English assignment where he was supposed to pick a famous quote on a particular subject and then explain what it meant to him, so those quotes and their explanations are a very clever way the author lets us get inside this main character's mind.

[Travsssss!!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

So the book starts out pretty basic, Deet is a kid with no friends who pretty much runs his family because his parents are to busy. Deet's dad is actually his step dad, he's never met his real dad. But his step dad is dad to Deet. With the economy so bad his dad has to work two jobs to take care of the three kids and his wife. When you don't expect it, the book get a lot more involved and his dad goes to jail for using drugs to keep himself awake for both job. At first Deet was really scared about visiting his dad, but once his mom goes to work he decides to make it part of his after school schedule. He starts to realize that these people all have stories just like his dad, and that prison is nothing like it is in the movies.
I really like this book because it keeps you guessing and you never expect what happens. I like that it is written so Deet comes right out and says how he feels unlike other books where people deny their feelings all the time. Kirkpatrick Hill makes it really easy for me to relate to the book. I'm not saying everyone will, but I definatly knew exactly how Deet felt! I would recommend this book to anyone who can handle it. It's kind of a more mature book. The only thing I didn't like was the last two pages. I'm not gonna tell you what happened, but I thought that there were a million other ways the book could have ended and that wasn't the best choice.