E ARC from Netgalley



Lowen Grover and his family have a decent life in the city, but after his best friend is shot at a convenience store along with three other children, the off from a small town to buy a house for a dollar has a lot of appeal. Millville is struggling with the closing of its paper mills a while ago, and the town needs more families with children in order to keep the schools going. The Grovers have careers the town wants (the mother wants to open a pasty take out shop, and the father is a physician's assistant), and Clem and Anneth are interested in helping out the sports teams, although Anneth is the least excited about relocating. The family applies, is accepted, and even gets the one house of the five that they wanted. It has four bedrooms, but is also right next door to the local funeral home. This gives Lowen, who is still grieving the loss of his friend Abe, especially since he feels guilty about sending him to the store for candy, a bit of a hard time. In order to get money to repair the house, which is one of the requirements of getting it for a dollar, the father stays in the city to work, so Lowen misses him. Clem settles in, and even Anneth finds a group of people, but aside from Dylan, who helps out at the funeral home and used to live in Lowen's house, Lowen struggles to fit in. The mother's shop struggles, especially since the restaurant owner next door feels threatened and keeps sabotaging their efforts, offering lunch and take out boxes. Sami, whose mother wanted to open a pet boutique but was denied a loan, gets along well with Lowen, and the two are very invested in their parents businesses, helping Sami's mother set up and stock her resale shop. As the year progresses, some of the families do better than others, and it looks like Lowen's family just might make it. When Dylan's grandfather becomes ill and is in danger of losing his house, the "dollar kids" rally behind Dylan, which helps Lowen's family in an unexpected way.

Strengths: This was a great look at a different type of life that will be new and informative for many readers. The Grovers are struggling financially, although they were doing okay in the city. The family bonding because of the move was interesting, and the reality of setting up a restaurant was fun to read. The reaction of the townspeople was also intriguing, and the story moved at a decent pace. The inclusion of comic strips (used by Lowen to deal with Abe's death) will appeal to readers who like graphic novels.



Since I have family in a small town in Iowa (under 600 people), and have witnessed its downward progression over the last thirty years, I know that this is absolutely realistic, even though it might seem odd to people with no experiences of small town life. One of my relatives even ran a resale shop for a while! Giving away houses for $1? Absolutely. In the town I know, people routinely give their houses to the town and the fire squad burns them to the ground for practice fighting fires. I was impressed that Millville had a dollar store, a grocery, and a restaurant, although I was a bit surprised that there was a library and the school was still operating with only eight children in each class.
Weaknesses: Since this book is on the long side, I could have done without the plot line about Abe's death, but I realize that this is completely on trend and I'm the only one who doesn't like the portrayal of grieving in middle grade novels.
What I really think: Definitely purchasing. It's a bit on the long side, so I'm interested to see a print copy, but the story of small town life is such a fantastic one that I can't wait to hand it to my readers.

Wow, my heart. This book dealt with survivor's guilt, moving, making new friends, grief, death, and so many other hard topics. "The Dollar Kids" makes you want to keep reading.

I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Thanks NetGalley for the read.

As a character-driven novel, 'Dollar Kids' explores grief and guilt surrounding loss; friendship; belonging; and community.

Despite there being so many characters within the book, main characters we fleshed out and well-developed, allowing the reader to connect with them, loath them (Mr Avery!), and 'get' them.

After telling my eldest daughter (aged 12) about the book — we simultaneously 'ahhhhhhh'-ed at the climax and ending — she proclaimed, "They need to make it into a film!" It's definitely a film I'd watch.

Thank you #NetGalley for this early review copy of Jennifer Richard Jacobson’s #TheDollarKids. It is set for release on August 7.
This character-driven novel is an exploration of family, starting over, grief, gun violence, friendship and life in a rural community. The term “dollar kids” refers to the families who purchased run-down homes in the dying town of Millville for $1. What an intriguing idea, that a bank would agree to donate properties to a town in order to bring in new families with more earning potential to keep the town running... I did not expect the varied reactions of the community members, and how difficult it would be for the Grover family to start over.
I like how Jacobson portrayed struggle, not just of a family, but an entire community trying to preserve their way of life. The obstacles may have slowed the Grovers down, but continuously revamping their plans to solve problems as a family felt authentic and inspiring.
I appreciated the way Jacobson used Lowen’s art as a safe place for him to work through his grief to process the loss of his friend, Abe. The illustrations (thank you Ryan Andrews) carried their own stories... a powerful way for kids to relate through a visual representation of loss. I wished there was more of this to break up the text.
My only issue with this one is the length. It is a daunting novel (416 pages) for the intended audience. Middle grade readers will struggle with the pacing unless they can connect in a meaningful way to the 11 year-old protagonist. If they can hold on, they will be rewarded with an incredible ending. It truly takes a village...

Lowen Grover, 12 years old, who feels responsible for Abe's death, When found about one dollar house, it seems like his only escape to his memories of Abe. His life is in the struggle he even not drawing anymore because it reminds him of Abe.

His family supports him and got a house in Millville for one dollar. The story and people are so realistic, the struggle is real, how difficult it is to move in a town where you are stranger for everyone and people are unwelcoming.

Characters were diverse and well developed. I loved Mr and Mrs Grover, Every middle grade should have this type of parents. Lowen siblings are not that supportive they are too busy in their life.

Sam, her family is also a one dollar family, is one of the interesting character, who is confident and bold and become Lowan friend when he even didn't want to be friend with someone.

Dylan, a mysterious kid with some history, who doesn't seem to care about others.

It was sweet, warm and heart touching, a perfect read for Middle-graders. Illustrations were too good. I really enjoyed them and Portrayal of Abe through these.

Only thing I didn't like is pace in the middle of the book pace was so slow.

How do you get over a death that you feel responsible for? In this book, Lowen, who is a budding cartoonist, feels that he is responsible for the death of Abe, a very pesky younger kid that wants to be his friend, as well as a cartoonist as well. He sends him off to get candy, and while he is at the shop, he is killed in a random shooting.

So, when he comes across a town that is giving away houses for a dollar, he persuades his parents to go for it, and thus he becomes one of the dollar kids, and so begins the second plot of the story, how to fit into a town that doesn’t necessarily want you there.

Lowen isn’t constantly thinking about Abe. As he describes it, it is like a snake that comes up and coils around him.

And the sad thing, is the one thing he loved to do, draw cartoons, reminds him of Abe, because that was what he was trying to do when he sent him off. So, his outlet is not available to him.

And trying to figure out how to deal with it, without dealing with it, is damn near impossible.

What impressed me the most was how well rounded the character of Lowen was. He, like I, when going through a cemetery, checks out the children’s headstones, wondering about their short life, and how they died, and things like that.

Another thing I liked was Sami, who was of Indian discent. She becomes Lowen’s best friend, even though he doesn’t realize it at the time. When one of the people in their new town says that all the jobs have gone to India, and why doesn’t she go back there, she declares that she was born in America, and her parents need jobs just like everyone else does.

A very endearing story of both trying to fit in and trying to get over grief, of the highs and lows of trying to establish yourself in a new town, where there are obsticals thrown in your way because you simply don’t know what everyone who has lived there forever would know.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Lowen Grover is a 12-year-old artist is using his comic book artwork to cope with the gun-related death of his young friend, Abe. He just wants to get away: away from the memories of Abe and the shooting; away from his neighborhood, where everyone knows. When he sees an article about a former mill town, Millville, holding a lottery of dollar homes to bring new life into the town, he mentions it to his parents, who apply and secure a home. It's a chance for his family to own their own home, and a chance for his mother to start up a business, but rural life isn't what Lowen expected, and the Millville families aren't as welcoming to the new "Dollar Kids" and their families as he'd hoped. As the Grovers and the other new families try to make inroads into their new town, Lowen works through his grief and tries to rediscover friendship, his love for art, and his place in the community.

The Dollar Kids unpacks a lot of ideas and moments, and it's beautifully done by author Jennifer Richard Jacobson and illustrator Ryan Andrews. It's a book about grief and loss, and the guilt that comes with grief. It's also about friendship, and accepting friendship, even when one doesn't think he or she deserves it. It's a book about family. Finally, it's a book about acceptance. Lowen is grieving the loss of a kid who was somewhat of a friend; a younger kid who hung around him constantly; he embraces this chance to start a new life in a rural town, but he and his family discover that a dollar home takes a great emotional and financial toll; the families in Millville don't like change much, even when it's to benefit their town, and feel almost contemptuous toward the newcomers. The characters are realistic and relatable, with the author giving as much attention to her supporting characters as she does her main characters. The comic book artwork by Ryan Andrews is an outlet for Lowen, and helps readers work through his grief with him.

A great middle grade book for realistic fiction readers. Explain to readers that dollar homes do, in fact, exist, and what the stigmas associated with buying a foreclosed home could entail: how may the Millvillians see the families that purchase them, in light of the town's history? I'd booktalk this with Beth Vrabel's Blind Guide to Stinkville and The Doughnut Fix by Jessie Janowitz, both of which look at life in a rural community, and The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin and Lisa Graff's Lost in the Sun for addressing grief.