This is one of the 11 books my mom got yesterday at a garage sale in town for 50 cents.

c. 1959 -- 248 pages -- Trade Paperback -- Illustrated by Symeon Shimin -- Winner of the 1960 Newbery Medal

Back Cover: It's one thing to have a father who wants to decide your future. It's quite another when he steals your best friend and tries to change your friend's life, too. Even though his father has big plans for him to become an engineer, Andy Rusch is perfectly happy working summers in the family hardware store, playing on the Serenity baseball team, and being best friends with "Onion John" -- the last person on earth Andrew Rusch, Senior, wants to see influencing his son.

Joseph Krumgold received the Newbery Medal for "Onion John." One of the few people to receive the medal twice, he was previously awarded it for his novel "...And Now Miguel," also available in a Scholastic edition.

I finished reading this book on 9/30/08. Its a fast read which I really enjoyed. I always have a problem with parents trying to live out their own life in their child's. They had their one chance and now it's the child's one chance. So I was glad Andy's dad finally gave in to allowing Andy to make his own choice for life (MIT & going to the moon vs. staying at the family Hardware Store in NJ). However, the dad still remains too persuasive for my taste. I think the book brings out a good point with the character of Onion John ... that some people are very happy and content with their lives just the way they are ... and when you (the whole town in this case) tries to chance it for what they think is best ... doesn't always turn out to be the best for that individual. People are too quick in trying to change others into what they think they should be ... or what they think "normal" is.

Permanent Newbery Collection