I had really high hopes for this book. I think it may have been over-hyped by bloggers and the publishing industry. There are aspects of this book that I loved - REALLY loved. The ability for the narrator to be unflinchingly honest about hunger, homelessness, and the struggle of the working poor in America WAS outstanding. This book is definitely important in that regard and I am thrilled to have purchased it for my library and will be sharing it with many students. Here is what I didn't like about it - the character didn't resonate with me emotionally, and he felt very flat. I wanted more about his relationship with Crenshaw to be explored, and I even wanted more from that relationship. Even when his dad has MS, it is just mentioned as a blip, and I felt that it needed for be addressed a bit deeper too. I can understand how things didn't end up in a near package - that IS life, even if we want something different. The hopefulness is there, and even though things are still rocky, there is a resolution about being more honest between the family members about what is going on in their lives.