Okay for Now
Doug Swieteck first showed up in Gary D. Schmidt鈥檚 2007 Newbery Honor-winning novel 鈥淭he Wednesday Wars.鈥� Although the hilariously named Holling Hoodhood starred in that novel, his friend Doug 鈥� and the entire, dysfunctional Swieteck family 鈥� have now gone on to bring life to companion novel Okay for Now. Like 鈥淭he Wednesday Wars,鈥� 鈥淥kay for Now鈥� is set in the late 1960s and aimed at middle school-age readers.
But 鈥淥kay for Now鈥� involves a shift of scene away from the Long Island setting so richly portrayed in 鈥淭he Wednesday Wars.鈥� It鈥檚 now the summer of 1968, and the promise of a better job for Doug鈥檚 uncompromising 鈥� well, to put it bluntly, downright mean 鈥� father is taking the Swieteck family away from Long Island to upstate Marysville, N.Y., and the Ballard Paper Mill.
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As an eighth-grader, Doug is not happy about the family鈥檚 move. He detests their new house 鈥� which he refers to as 鈥淭he Dump鈥� 鈥� and his beloved Yankees aren鈥檛 even playing on the boring neighbor鈥檚 transistor radio in this boring town. Meanwhile, his mother is worried that she鈥檒l lose the connection with Doug鈥檚 oldest brother who鈥檚 off fighting in a Vietnam delta somewhere. And the brother Doug shares his tiny room with has always been a troublemaker.
Yes, Doug hates everything about Marysville.
Then he discovers the town library and its remarkable collection of John J. Audubon plates from 鈥淏irds of America.鈥� He meets someone who believes Doug has artistic talent, and he actually plays horseshoes with an unlikely supporter 鈥� his father鈥檚 boss, the factory owner.
A Saturday morning job delivering groceries for the local deli connects him to an eccentric writer who also befriends him. And Lil Spicer, classmate and cute girl, notices him.
In this often heartbreaking but always funny novel, Schmidt ties complicated threads into a remarkably satisfying story. Weaving a wounded Vietnam veteran, the Audubon prints, Doug鈥檚 seemingly uncooperative gym teacher, and a whole host of characters and events together into a seamless finale could seem impossible. Yet Schmidt orchestrates it beautifully.
He even manages to effectively integrate Aud颅ubon鈥檚 plates into the story, naming each chapter after a different bird. When Doug studies Audubon鈥檚 drawing of the snowy heron, for instance, he ponders the way that the bird鈥檚 beak points to the world. He can鈥檛 help noticing 鈥� and being impressed 鈥� that the snowy heron 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 care that the hunter is coming up the path.... he looks at the hunter and says, So what? he sees Pos颅sibility.鈥�
That鈥檚 what his science teacher has asked the class about the astronauts traveling to the moon in 1969. What will they find there? They will find 鈥減ossibility.鈥�
Early in the story, when Doug鈥檚 friend Lil brings flowers for the Swieteck household, she and Doug plant them. He hopes things will turn out just fine.
鈥淚t means something, you know, when people plant things together. By the time we were done, these daisies were strutting their white hearts out in front of The Dump 鈥� which didn鈥檛 look quite so much like a dump anymore.鈥�
But of course, nothing is fine. Not just yet. There鈥檚 plenty of trouble still to come. But by the time they finish this novel, young readers will not only be rooting for Doug Swieteck, they will also have discovered something important about the capacity for love and the power of resiliency.
Augusta Scattergood regularly reviews children鈥檚 books for the Monitor.
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