Pool Boy by Michael Simmons

Year Published: 2003
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
ISBN: 0761318852
Pages: 164
Classification: Fiction
Media Format: Book
Genre: Drama
Interest Level: 7-12
Reading Level: 4
Subjects: Father-son relationship, Wealth, California, Prisoners, Fiction

Reader's Annotation: Fifteen-year-old Brett Gerson looses everything after his father gets sent to jail for illegal stock trading. Brett is forced to help the family living by cleaning pools in their old neighborhood. Brett learns his lesson about life, responsibility and family as he worked cleaning pools

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Brett had it all: good looks, a winning personality, and a lot of money. That is, until the police busted his dad for money laundering and insider trading. Now the teen's posh lifestyle-like his dad-has gone to the dogs, and Brett, his mom, and sister move into their great-aunt's humble two-story on the other side of the tracks. Forced to help out in making ends meet, the teen takes a job cleaning pools in his old upscale neighborhood. Dubbed "pool boy" by the new owners of the house that his own family lost, Brett stubbornly comes to terms with forgiving his father for being a criminal and losing the family fortune. Bret learns his lesson about life, responsibility and family as he learns from his boss and partner in cleaning pools.

Reviews and Awards: ALA Booklist, Horn Book, School Library Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review for Publishers Weekly, Starred Review for Bulletin of the Center for Children's Book, Wilson's Junior High Catalog