Free Lunch

When I was five, my family went to dinner at a sit-down restaurant (a rare thing for us) and my parents made an announcement. My mom was pregnant. My sisters and I were going to have a baby brother. I could've learned I was going to get a new Barbie each day for the rest of my life and I wouldn't ha......more

This is exceptionally well written; it is funny, thought-provoking, and completely heartbreaking. Why then did I give it 2 stars...while contemplating giving it 1? It gets an extra point for great writing. Otherwise, the sheer fact that at the end the author does not talk about if your parents are a......more

Rex Ogle’s Free Lunch is the kind of book that leaves an imprint on your soul. It is a memoir of Rex’s childhood; one that is shaped by poverty, uncertainty, and abuse. Yet more than that, it is a story about resilience and the quiet strength of children who are forced to grow up too soon. From the v......more

Book talking this nonfiction book is going to be SO EASY. I am eager to see student reactions to this honest portrayal of a child growing up impoverished. . . . The most powerful part of FREE LUNCH is the way Ogle shows how poverty makes everything worse and how difficult it is to dig out of debt. The a......more

Touted as a book that will help middle school students empathize with people in poverty, this book became a selection for our middle school Battle of the Books club. I read all the books on the list, so I had to finish this even though it was very difficult to read. It is experiences like Rex’s that......more