Free Lunch

By Rex Ogle

A boy navigates poverty and school challenges, hiding his struggles from peers.

4.4/5 Goodreads · 11,594 ratings

224 pages· 47,452 words· Est. 5.5 hour read

$9.95Save 4%

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Bookroo's summary

Rex faces the trials of sixth grade in a wealthy school district while grappling with poverty. As he struggles with free lunch stigma, secondhand clothes, and a tumultuous home life, Rex must find his place among peers who judge him at first glance. Evicted and living in subsidized housing, he hides his reality from classmates, lingering after school to avoid revealing where he lives. Amidst hardship, Rex's journey is one of resilience, hope, and the quest for belonging in a world that often overlooks him. Can he find grace in the midst of adversity?

From the publisher

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 life at home is punctuated by outbursts of violence. Halfway through the semester, his family is evicted and ends up in government-subsidized housing in view of the school. Rex lingers at the end of 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 a true, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America.

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