My Brother's Keeper

Patricia McCormick

Jul 2010 · Sold by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

About this ebook

Toby Malone looks up to his brother Jake. Everyone does. He is the cool one, the one who is good at baseball. Even Mr. Furry, the unfortunately named family cat, seems to prefer him to everyone else. Toby and Jake and their little brother have always had an easy, jostling friendship, in which it is them against the rest of the world. But ever since Toby`s father left, things have been off balance. Toby`s mother seems deflated and resigned. And his little brother is exhibiting odd signs of stress. Toby struggles to keep his family together even as things are falling apart. Despite his efforts, though, Jake is drifting farther and farther away, and Toby knows it is because he is becoming increasingly dependent on drugs. Toby tries to cover up for Jake, to spare his mother yet another disappointment. But his attempts to protect Jake and his mother backfire, only adding to the growing tension between the brothers+until Jake finally goes much too far. With great warmth and wry humor, Patricia McCormick draws a portrait of a typical family that is struggling to reconnect after a crisis.

About the author

To research Sold, Patricia McCormick traveled to India and Nepal where she interviewed the women of Calcutta's red-light district and girls who have been rescued from the sex trade. She is also the author of the acclaimed novels Cut and My Brother's Keeper.