"Rex Ogle explores bonds of loyalty and friendship and how they’re tested by drugs and violence in this propulsive novel-in-verse.
Diego Benevides works hard. His single mother encourages him to stay focused on school, on getting into college, on getting out of their crumbling neighborhood. That’s why she gave him her car.
Diego’s best friend, Lawson, needs a ride—because Lawson is dealing. As long as Diego’s not carrying, not selling, it’s cool. It’s just weed.
But when Lawson starts carrying powder and pills and worse, their friendship is tested and their lives are threatened. As the lines between dealer and driver blur, everything Diego has worked for is jeopardized, and he faces a deadly reckoning with the choices he and his best friend have made.
Award-winning memoirist and poet Rex Ogle’s searing first novel-in-verse is an unforgettable story of the power and price of loyalty.
'The expertly paced plot twist at the end makes Benny and Lawson’s story heartbreakingly unforgettable. … Achingly, beautifully written.'—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"
"A funny, feel-good middle-grade graphic memoir about breaking out, battling puberty, and braving complicated friendships.
It's time to face facts!
On the first day of seventh grade, Rex encounters a bump in the road -- a big angry pimple right in the center of his forehead. And this is only the beginning of his problems. What follows is a frustrating battle with stubborn acne, body odor, and other embarrassments of puberty. Still struggling with a home life edging on the poverty line, Rex can't afford to buy the acne medication or deodorant he needs, and bullies are noticing Rex's awkward transformation. On top of it all, things have gotten weird with his friends, making Rex feel like he can't do or say anything right. So far, seventh grade stinks!"
"One hot summer afternoon, Rex Ogle’s sexuality is found out and his father gives him an ultimatum: you can be gay, or you can live here, but not both—and you have twenty-four hours to decide. Rex desperately hopes for a reprieve that doesn’t come, and the following day, he leaves. With no place to go, he drives to New Orleans, where he has the phone number of a man he met briefly and kissed once.
This is a story of coming out, a first love that turns to betrayal, assault, and homelessness. Road Home vividly depicts a teenager falling through the net of family and society into a world of hunger, danger, and despair, and reaching a moment of desperate choice on a highway bridge above the Mississippi River. But this is also a story of survival. Intimate, honest, and compelling, it joins Rex Ogle’s award-winning memoirs Free Lunch and Punching Bag in mapping a young adulthood scarred by trauma and illuminated by strength and compassion."
"A humorous and heartwarming middle-grade graphic memoir audio adaptation about fitting in, facing bullies, and finding the right pair of glasses.
Sixth grade isn't as great as Rex thought it would be. He's the only kid who hasn't had a growth spurt, and the bullies won't let him forget it. His closest friend is unreliable, at best. And there's a cute girl in his class who he can't stop thinking about. With so much going on, everything is a blur -- including Rex's vision! So when he discovers that he needs glasses, and his family can only afford the ugliest pair in the store, any hope Rex had of fitting in goes completely out of focus.
In this true coming-of-age story, Rex has his sights set on surviving sixth grade, but now he's got to find a way to do it with glasses, no friends, and a family that just doesn't get it!"
""Monsters have never been so much fun." -Stuart Gibbs, New York Times bestselling author of the Spy School series on The Supernatural Society
Welcome back to East Emerson, a town chock-full of monsters, in this spooky and hilarious middle grade series about three kids who must unravel centuries of secrets to save the day.
Will Hunter just wants a quiet day in East Emerson. But instead:
- A bully won't leave him alone at school
- His mom is struggling to make ends meet
- Together with friends Ivy and Linus, he's had to save the town from a pet-napping vampire and a werewolf army
When someone starts raising the dead all over town, it's up to Will, Ivy, and Linus to unlock the centuries of secrets hiding underground and prevent a terrifying monster from being unleashed. And if they fail, it won't just mean the end of East Emerson-but the end of the entire world.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Read all the books in The Supernatural Society series!
The Supernatural Society
Curse of the Werewolves
Rise of the Undead
Praise for The Supernatural Society
"Frightening and fun!" -Neil Patrick Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Magic Misfits
"Three friends on an action-packed, monster-filled adventure? And laughs? Sign me up!" -Max Brallier, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Kids on Earth series"
"I say, “Te amo siempre.”
And she says, “I love you more.”
And I say, “Impossible.”
Abuela, Don’t Forget Me is Rex Ogle’s portrait of his grandmother, the one adult he could count on when he was a child—and who is now forgetting him as dementia takes hold of her.
In his award-winning Free Lunch and Punching Bag, Rex charted a coming of age marked by poverty and domestic violence. Here, he celebrates the woman who gave him unconditional love through it all. From a first memory of hiding in a
laundry hamper and squealing with delight when she found him; through collect calls, visits, trips to the library, and a trip to Mexico, where she was raised; school reports, driving lessons, and a first car; to high school and graduation, Abuela,
Don’t Forget Me is a lyrical and life-affirming portrait of the promise of love and home, and of the devoted grandmother who provided it."
""Monsters have never been so much fun." -Stuart Gibbs, New York Times bestselling author of the Spy School series
"Frightening and fun!" -Neil Patrick Harris, New York Times bestselling author of The Magic Misfits
Readers will be scared silly in this spooky and hilarious middle grade series starter about a town chock-full of monsters and the kids who must unravel centuries of secrets to save it.
Will Hunter thought his life couldn't get any worse:
- His parents just got divorced,
- His best (and only) friend now is his dog, Fitz,
- And his mom moved them from New York City to the middle-of-nowhere town called East Emerson.
But Will was wrong-things are about to get way worse. Because East Emerson is filled with a whole lot of monsters, and he's the only person who can see them.
When all the town pets (including Fitz) go missing, Will suspects there's something sinister going on. So he joins forces with outcast Ivy and super-smart Linus to uncover the ancient secrets of East Emerson. Besides, nothing bad could happen when three sixth graders team up against monsters, magic, myths, and mad science . . . right?
Read all the books in The Supernatural Society series!
The Supernatural Society
Curse of the Werewolves"
"This is a true story.
This is my story.
It happened to me.
I survived.
Punching Bag is the compelling story of a young adulthood punctuated by domestic abuse. Rex Ogle, who brilliantly mapped his experience of poverty and hunger in Free Lunch, here charts his struggle to survive a brutal and unpredictable cycle of violence between and at the hands of his
mother and stepfather, and to understand the history and situation of his damaged family.
Hovering over Rex’s story is the talismanic presence of his unborn baby sister, herself a victim of these circumstances.
Compulsively readable, beautifully crafted, and authentically told, Punching Bag is a heartbreaking memoir of trauma with a powerful and abiding message—a story of one teenager’s experience of violence, blame, and forgiveness, and a universal story of hope and survival."
