Summer Virtual Author Series: Illuminating Hope and Grace in the Face of Hardship with Rex Ogle
Advertisement
This is a virtual-only presentation. Please register to receive your link to watch it live at home or at a later time and to submit any questions for the author.
You're invited to join us online with award-winning author Rex Ogle as he talks to viewers about his struggles to navigate sixth grade, as described in his book Free Lunch.
Instead of giving him lunch money, Rex's mom has signed him up for free meals. As a poor kid in a wealthy school district, better-off kids crowd impatiently behind him as he tries to explain to the cashier that he's on the free meal program. The lunch lady is hard of hearing, so Rex has to shout.
Free Lunch is the story of Rex's efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he's trouble—all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend are out of work, and outbursts of violence punctuate life at home. Halfway through the semester, his family is evicted and ends up in government-subsidized housing given the school. Rex lingers at the end of the last period every day until the buses have left so no one will see where he lives.
Unsparing and realistic, Free Lunch is a story of hardship threaded with hope and moments of grace. Rex's voice is compelling and authentic, and Free Lunch is an accurate, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America. Register now to join the conversation!
You're invited to join us online with award-winning author Rex Ogle as he talks to viewers about his struggles to navigate sixth grade, as described in his book Free Lunch.
Instead of giving him lunch money, Rex's mom has signed him up for free meals. As a poor kid in a wealthy school district, better-off kids crowd impatiently behind him as he tries to explain to the cashier that he's on the free meal program. The lunch lady is hard of hearing, so Rex has to shout.
Free Lunch is the story of Rex's efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he's trouble—all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend are out of work, and outbursts of violence punctuate life at home. Halfway through the semester, his family is evicted and ends up in government-subsidized housing given the school. Rex lingers at the end of the last period every day until the buses have left so no one will see where he lives.
Unsparing and realistic, Free Lunch is a story of hardship threaded with hope and moments of grace. Rex's voice is compelling and authentic, and Free Lunch is an accurate, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America. Register now to join the conversation!
Advertisement