Pay Attention, Carter Jones
Recommended. Age: 10+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
A funny, moving story about a boy carrying grief and anger and a butler who teaches him to carry them like a gentleman. Order, courtesy, duty to his sisters and his mother: Carter grows in all of them. Reviewers say readers will laugh and cry. The one reservation is that his father leaves the family and the book offers human healing without naming grace.
For parents
Read it aloud from 9; a child can read it alone from 10. Common Sense says 10 and up. A brother's death and a father who does not come home are at the center. Ask what the butler means by remembering who you are. Ask how Carter learns to forgive (CCC 2843).