Seventh Most Important Thing

This luminescent (Kirkus Reviews) story of anger and art, loss and redemption will appeal to fans of Lisa Graffs Lost in the Sun and Vince Vawters Paperboy.Arthur T. Owens grabbed a brick and hurled it at the trash picker. Arthur had his reasons, and the brick hit the Junk Man in the arm, not the head. But none of that matters to the judgehe is ready to send Arthur to juvie forever. Amazingly, its the Junk Man himself who offers an alternative: 120 hours of community serviceworking for him.Arthur is given a rickety shopping cart and a list of the Seven Most Important Things: glass bottles, foil, cardboard, pieces of wood, lightbulbs, coffee cans, and mirrors. He cant believe itis he really supposed to rummage through peoples trash? But it isnt long before Arthur realizes theres more to the Junk Man than meets the eye, and the trash hes collecting is being transformed into something more precious than anyone could imagine.Inspired by the work of folk artist James Hampton, Shelley Pearsall has crafted an affecting and redemptive novel about discovering what shines within us all, even when life seems full of darkness.A moving exploration of how there is often so much more than meets the eye. Booklist, starred reviewThere are so many things to love about this book. Remarkable. The Christian Science Monitor