The Trouble with Jeremy Chance

by George Harrar

In 1919, following a disagreement with his father and his first whipping by a belt, twelve-year-old Jeremy hops a train to Boston to meet his older brother, a soldier returning from World War I.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

I write fiction for middle grade readers through adults and hold the distinction of having had three novels published by three different publishers for three different age groups in a single year. REUNION AT RED PAINT BAY (Other Press) is my latest book, about a newspaper editor in Maine and his family who engage in a full-scale psychological battle with a stalker without even knowing it. The novel was adapted in 2018 as a French-language film titled "Examen de Conscience." My earlier book, THE SPINNING MAN (Penguin), was also released in 2018 as a film starring Guy Pearce, Minnie Driver and Pierce Brosnan. It is available On Demand and on DVD. A new paperback edition of my novel with a film-theme cover was reissued by Amazon. For YA readers I wrote NOT AS CRAZY AS I SEEM (Houghton Mifflin) about a 15-year-old coping with his OCD "tendencies." PARENTS WANTED (Milkweed),for middle-grade readers, is my semi-autobiographical story of a 12-year-old boy's struggle to fit in with his adoptive family. Of my 12 published short stories, "The 5:22" won the Carson McCullers Prize and was selected for Best American Short Stories, 1999.

Reviews

[Adele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, middle-grade historical fiction. Harrar clearly started with the bizarre historical event of The Great Molasses Flood in Boston on January 15, 1919 and built the story from there, but the event doesn't actually occur in the book until towards the end. The rest of the book shows more generally life in rural New Hampshire at the end of WWI through the eyes of an engaging, likable narrator. I was left feeling like this book would be good for a middle school English class. It is a quick read that I think would appeal to young readers and there are lots of good prompts for lively discussion.

[Duane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice book about the time right after World War I. Jeremy finds himself disagreeing with his father over some issues concerning his neighbor. He decides that he needs to travel to Boston to meet his brother coming home from the war. It's a nice read about the thoughts of a young boy who is learning that his father isn't always right and how that changes things in his world.

[Vicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

12 yr old Jeremy gets into quite a bit of trouble, but he sticks up for his beliefs to his father over the "spite" fence wan elderly neigbor. After a whipping from his father, Jeremy heas out to Boston to find his older brother Davey' ship that's bringing him home from WWI. Jeremy encounters the famous Boston Molasses explosion (Jan.1919 Purity Distillery) where he helps rescue a fire fighter. ok