Utterly Yours, Booker Jones

Utterly Yours, Booker Jones

Written by: Betsy Duffey

Brief Summary: Twelve-year old Booker Jones is quite the accomplished writer. In fact, he has written and submitted over twenty-two books to Hamerstein Books publishing. Booker thinks that he has the perfect writer's name, and believes that he has written some of the best chapter books in the universe! Throughout the story Booker is frantically working on writing a chapter book called Space Cows; however, the majority of his time at home consists of helping out his mother and Pop. As the story continues, he is asked by a fellow classmate to write a speech for a school PTO meeting. The meeting turns into a town event and thousands of people plan on attending. Unfortunately with all the commotion going on at home, Booker is experiencing something that he had only read about.. writer's block. Will he be able to successfully write a good speech by the time the community PTO meeting is held? ...

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This book received the Iowa Children's Choice Award and I can see why! I think this book would be a great recommendation for a male student due to the fact that the main character in the story is a 12 year old boy. The story is written in first person P.O.V. and this will help the reader connect to the main character. I also believe that girls would find this story appealing. I, myself, a female, had a hard time putting this book down; the plot flows smoothly and constantly keeps your attention. The plot of the story focuses heavily on Booker and his writing; he gives great examples of writing and advice on writing throughout the story that would beneficial for students to hear (perhaps understood better from a 12-year-old fictional character than a teacher :). I, personally, would love to read this book to my entire class out-loud. Although, if this could not be done, the book would be just as entertaining as a individual read!