The Reappearance of Sam Webber

Jonathon Scott Fuqua

Apr 1999 · Bancroft Press

About this ebook

When eleven-year-old Sam Webber's father disappears without a trace, he and his mother are forced to relocate to a tough neighbourhood, closer to her job. Unfamiliar with his surroundings and intimidated by the students of his new school, Sam recounts the sometimes frightening, sometimes delightful details of his life with touching, humorous sincerity. Living in a tiny apartment with a bedroom that feels like a closet and a closet that has been turned into a den, he is forced to deal with the legacy of depression that marked his father, and threatens to envelop him. The city remains a cold and unwelcoming place to Sam until he meets Greely, an elderly black janitor at his junior high. Through this unlikely friendship Sam begins to heal, as well as confront the racism that surrounds his community, and his life. With afternoons of football in the park and greasy meals at the local Little Tavern, Sam discovers that friendship and warmth can rise in even the saddest times. Tracing a year in the life of an exceptional young boy, newcomer Jonathon Scott Fuqua leaves an impression that endures like a watermark.A masterfully written novel full of beautifully drawn, unforgettable characters, The Reappearance of Sam Webber is only the first from a top writer whose talented storytelling will touch every reader. The Reappearance of Sam Webber won the Alex Award. Co-sponsored by Booklist magazine and the American Library Association (ALA) Youth Services Division, the Alex Award is given annually to the 10 best adult books for children. The novel was also named to the New York Public Library's 2000 Books for the Teen Age list. The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) listed The Reappearance of Sam Webber as one of two novels in print, adult or YA, to deal with the issue of violence in youth. From January through April 2003, Sam Webber was part of Peoria, Illinois's One City, One Book. School Library Journal named The Reappearance of Sam Webber one of the top five adult novels for young adults in 1999. Booklist named it to its editors' choice '99 for adult books for young adults. The novel has appeared on numerous summer reading lists.

About the author

Jonathon Scott Fuqua is the award winning author of three much lauded, award-winning young adult novels, The Reappearance of Sam Webber (ALA Alex Award, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Booklist Editor's Choice, and more) and DARBY (Oppenhiem Toy Portfolio Platinum Award, Book Sense Top 5, Mark Twain Award finalist, and more), and The Willoughby Spit Wonder (â¿¿It is the kind of novel, by turns comical, haunting, and thrilling, that comes only once in a blue moonâ¿ The Boston Globe). For teenagers and adults, he has written a "groundbreaking" graphic novel, In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe, which was nominated by YALSA as a Popular Paperback for Young Adults (2005). And for young children he has penned Catie & Josephine (a Washington Post Book of the Week) an innovative graphic/chapter book that might be the first of its kind. In the Wake of the Boatman, his latest novel, came out in December 2008. All of his published books are available nationally and internationally.