Bibliography:

Ogle, R. (2021). Free Lunch. New York, NY. Norton Young Readers. 

Summary:

Rex Ogle tells his own life story of being a young boy living in Birmingham and being part of the welfare system. As a middle school boy he was embarrassed to be in the free lunch program at school and tried very hard to hide the fact that he was poor. Rex also experienced physical child abuse by his mother because of their economic situation. 

Critical Analysis:

This title can be classified as an autobiography. Rex Ogle is able to tell his story from his own perspective of when he was a young boy. He is able to deliver his feelings and thoughts about being part of the welfare system. For example, he gives great detail about the time when his mother had to pay for groceries with food stamps. He is also able to give his experience of when his mother signed up for the free lunch program at his school. He details how he tried very hard to hide the fact that he was poor and had to have free lunch at school. He didn’t want his friends and others to make fun of him because of that. Although he tried hard to hide that he was poor, the other boys still made fun of him and called him racial slurs. 

Strengths: The novel is able to give details about the author’s young life. Feelings and experiences were given with great details. 

Weakness: The novel was well written from the perspective of the author’s life. No weaknesses were found. 

Review excerpt (Kirkus)

“A mighty portrait of poverty amid cruelty and optimism”.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rex-ogle/free-lunch-ogle/

Review Excerpt (SLJ)

Review by Shelley Sommer, Inly School, Scituate, MA , Oct 04, 2019

https://www.slj.com/review/free-lunch