Gary Schmidt is a prime reason that books should not have age labels. His books are labelled “middle grade.” Like youth, his books are often wasted on the young. An adult friend and I have become Schmidt groupies and make sure we read and discuss the next book when it comes out. Imagine my surprise when she finished Just Like That, his latest, and informed me before I started that one of our favorite characters from a previous book, Holling Hoodhood, dies in an early chapter. (I have no idea where he gets his character names, but they are all intriguing.) She did add that I had to read the book nevertheless.
Just Like That covers grief, loss, fitting in, aging – life – all with a great sense of humor. There were a couple of quotes that have kept me thinking long after the book was returned to the library. The first was, “There are times when words can’t do what you want them to do, no matter how much you wish they would.” For a lover of words and a believer in them, this is a hard saying. Yet, I know it to be true. No matter how much we want to ease the pain of grief, relieve the embarrassment of failure, or encourage the overwhelmed to try again, words so often get in the way rather than do our biding. As people around me have dealt with grief, disappointment, and relentless Covid this year, I have found words have often been useless.
The other quote that made me think was, “There is no new start. There is only what’s next.” His point is that life doesn’t offer reruns. The good or ill of the past remains and cannot be undone. It needs to be left in the past, but what’s next needs to be planned for, modified, and anticipated. Even as life of this crazy past two years fades into the past, the only thing we can do is to look for what’s next and do our best to go forward and hope to make it better.
I met Gary Schmidt and heard him speak at the Kaigler Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi a few years ago when we could still meet. Not surprisingly, since I had read his books, I found him to be a really nice person. He combines careers as a teacher and writer and does them both well. He practices what he preaches. His words often, if not always, do what he wants and he keeps reaching for what’s next.
Gary’s quote gems are hidden inside a very good story, well worth reading or even sharing with a deserving seventh grader.