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The Janitor's Boy

Andrew Clements · back to the book

What’s in it

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24 books with the same feel

Include books by the same author
❤️

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

Wendy Mass · 304 pages

Father and SonMiddle GradeHeartwarmingContemporary Fiction
❤️

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Mitch Albom · 196 pages

The Five People You Meet In Heaven is a 2003 novel by Mitch Albom. It follows the life and death of a ride mechanic named Eddie who is killed in an amusement park accident and sent to heaven, where he encounters five people who had a significant impact on him while he was alive. It was published by Hyperion and remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 95 weeks.

Father and SonWorking-Class ProtagonistHeartwarmingMale Lead
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Nowhere Boy

Katherine Marsh · 366 pages

Father and SonMiddle GradeHeartwarmingContemporary Fiction
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Faith, Hope, and Ivy June

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

When push comes to shove, two Kentucky girls find strength in each other.Ivy June Mosely and Catherine Combs, two girls from different parts of Kentucky, are participating in the first seventh-grade student exchange program between their schools. The girls will stay at each other's homes, attend school together, and record their experience in their journals. Catherine and her family have a beautif

Working-Class ProtagonistMiddle GradeHeartwarmingContemporary Fiction
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Bud, Not Buddy

Christopher Paul Curtis · 249 pages

It's 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud's got a few things going for him: 1. He has his own suitcase filled with his own important, secret things. 2. He's the author of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. 3. His momma never told him who his father was, but

Father and SonMiddle GradeHeartwarmingMale Lead
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Ham on Rye

Charles Bukowski · 288 pages

In what is widely hailed as the best of his many novels, Charles Bukowski details the long, lonely years of his own hardscrabble youth in the raw voice of alter ego Henry Chinaski. From a harrowingly cheerless childhood in Germany through acne-riddled high school years and his adolescent discoveries of alcohol, women, and the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of D. H. Lawrence, Ham on Rye of

Father and SonWorking-Class ProtagonistBullyingClassism
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The Risk Pool

Richard Russo · 479 pages

For two decades Ned is shuttled back and forth between his mother, Jenny, and his father, Sam, after Sam abandoned them and now Ned struggles to win his father's affection while avoiding his sins.

Father and SonWorking-Class ProtagonistContemporary FictionMale Lead
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The Big Field

Mike Lupica · 288 pages

For Hutch, shortstop has always been home. It's where his father once played professionally, before injuries relegated him to watching games on TV instead of playing them. And it's where Hutch himself has always played and starred. Until now. The arrival of Darryl "D-Will" Williams, the top shortstop prospect from Florida since A-Rod, means Hutch is displaced, in more ways than one. Second base fe

Father and SonMiddle GradeHeartwarmingMale Lead
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The Misfortunates

Dimitri Verhulst · 199 pages

"Sobriety and moderation are alien concepts to the men in Dimmy's family. Useless in all other respects, his three uncles have a rare talent for drinking, a flair for violence, and an unwavering commitment to the pub. And his father Pierre is no slouch either. Within hours of his son's birth, Pierre plucks him from the maternity ward, props him on his bike, and takes him on an introductory tour of

Father and SonWorking-Class ProtagonistContemporary FictionMale Lead
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Crunch

Leslie Connor · 330 pages

The oldest Marriss brother, fourteen-year-old Dewey, attempts to be the "embodiment of responsibility" as he juggles the management of the family's bicycle repair business while sharing the household and farm duties with his siblings after a sudden energy crisis strands their parents far from home.

Working-Class ProtagonistMiddle GradeHeartwarmingContemporary Fiction
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Flour Babies

Anne Fine · 169 pages

When his class of underachievers is assigned to spend three torturous weeks taking care of their own "babies" in the form of bags of flour, Simon makes amazing discoveries about himself while coming to terms with his long-absent father.

Working-Class ProtagonistMiddle GradeHeartwarmingContemporary Fiction
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Cardboard

Doug TenNapel · 288 pages

Father and SonWorking-Class ProtagonistMiddle GradeMale Lead
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Small Steps

Louis Sachar · 272 pages

Two years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is home in Austin, Texas, trying to turn his life around. But it's hard when you have a record, and everyone expects the worst from you. The only person who believes in him is Ginny, his 10-year old disabled neighbor. Together, they are learning to take small steps. And he seems to be on the right path, until X-Ray, a buddy from Camp Gree

Working-Class ProtagonistHeartwarmingMiddle GradeContemporary Fiction
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The Year of Billy Miller

Kevin Henkes · 234 pages

Seven-year-old Billy Miller starts second grade with a bump on his head and a lot of worries, but by the end of the year he has developed good relationships with his teacher, his little sister, and his parents and learned many important lessons.

Father and SonMiddle GradeHeartwarmingMale Lead
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Onion John

Joseph Krumgold · 248 pages

His friendship with the town odd-jobs man, Onion John, causes a conflict between Andy and his father.

Father and SonMiddle GradeHeartwarmingMale Lead
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Babe & Me

Dan Gutman · 161 pages

On October 1, 1932, during Game Three of the Chicago Cubs -- New York Yankees World Series, Babe Ruth belted a long home run to straightaway centerfield. According to legend, just before he hit, Babe pointed to the bleachers and boldly predicted he would slam the next pitch there.Did he call the shot or didn't he? Witnesses never agreed. Like other baseball fans, Joe Stoshack wants to know the tru

Father and SonMiddle GradeHeartwarmingMale Lead
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I Am the Messenger

Markus Zusak · 386 pages

Working-Class ProtagonistHeartwarmingFather and SonContemporary Fiction
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When You Reach Me

Rebecca Stead · 199 pages

As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.

Working-Class ProtagonistMiddle GradeHeartwarmingBullying
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Almost Home

Joan Bauer

Almost Home is a heartwarming tale about a young girl named Sugar. Sugar and her mother have been struggling, but through it all Sugar manages to stay sweet. Just before she and her mother get thrown out of their home, Sugar gets Shush. Shush becomes Sugar's forever companion. Sugar pours her feelings into heartfelt poems and sends them to her former teacher Mr.B, who encourages her to stay strong

Working-Class ProtagonistMiddle GradeHeartwarmingContemporary Fiction
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Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Helen Simonson · 394 pages

You are about to travel to Edgecombe St. Mary, a small village in the English countryside filled with rolling hills, thatched cottages, and a cast of characters both hilariously original and as familiar as the members of your own family. Among them is Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's wondrous debut. Wry, courtly, opinionated, and completely endearing, Major P

Father and SonHeartwarmingContemporary FictionClassism
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One Plus One

Jojo Moyes · 594 pages

Working-Class ProtagonistHeartwarmingContemporary FictionBullying
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Bridge to Terabithia

Katherine Paterson · 144 pages

The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.

Working-Class ProtagonistMiddle GradeContemporary FictionBullying
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The Orange Girl

Jostein Gaarder · 155 pages

Father and SonMiddle GradeContemporary FictionMale Lead
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Townie

Andre Dubus III · 387 pages

After their parents divorce in the 1970's, Andre Dubus III and his three siblings grew up with their exhausted working mother in a depressed Massachusetts mill town saturated with drugs and crime. To protect himself and those he loved from street violence, Andre learned to use his fists so well that he was even scared of himself. He was on a fast track to getting killed, or killing someone else, o

Father and SonWorking-Class ProtagonistBullyingMale Lead

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