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| | | Fiction (Ages 15-18) | Home » » » A Face in Every Window | | | | | | | Description: | | James Patrick (JP) O’Brien’s once safe and secure world quickly unravels with the death of his beloved grandmother. Grandma Mary had always been the guiding hand of the O’Brien family, lovingly raising his mentally challenged Pap and allowing Mam to remain free of adult responsibility. Soon after Grandma Mary’s death, Mam wins a farmhouse in an essay contest and insists on sharing her good fortune with various neighborhood outcasts. As JP sees both Pap and himself being replaced in his mother’s life by others, his anger pushes his family and friends further away. It’s not until he begins to understand that he must learn to accept differences, human frailties, and the randomness of life that he recaptures his happiness and begins to grow as a person.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Han Nolan | | Hardcover:
| 272 pages | | Publisher:
| Harcourt Children's Books | | Publication Date:
| September 20, 1999 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0152019154 | | Package Length:
| 8.3 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.7 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.05 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 13 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 13 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Even if you don't like her, you'll love this!Feb 20, 2000
By Sara
I picked up Dancing on the Edge awhile back and found the sort of sci-fi tie in weird. I heard this book was good, so I picked it up, having a school book report done soon. I finished it in two days, because I could never put it down. You wrapped up in the story of J.P. and his odd family. You can't help knowing how he feels at some times. When J.P.'s grandmother dies, his family falls apart. His mother starts seeing a doctor a lot and his mentally retarded father has found a new fetish of staying on the roof with an illuminnated Nativity set.His mother wins a contest where the prize is a farmhouse in New Hope. They fill their house with people, a girl with an abusive father, an abonded kid named Larry and all his poetry friends. This story really hits home. I promise you'll love it. Even if the cover looks bizarre, you'll pick up what all the things represent while reading it. Trust me, this story is amazingly well written and you won't regret it!
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Great book about real-life strugglesJul 03, 2001
By Valerie Lockhart
This book is really well written. It's mainly about a teenager named James-Patrick and the problems he faces in his everyday life after his grandmother, who held the family together, died. His father is mentally retarded. They move into a large house after his grandmother dies, and his mother invites "weird" people (according to JP) to come live with the family. JP can't stand the chaos in the house with all the people there. Especially since he's a really good student, and his goal is to be the Valdictorian of his high school class. Over time his relationships with these people improve. This book was really good. It touched on things that many teenagers face in everyday life. This kind of stuff happens to everyone, and not just when a relative or close friend dies. Personally, I've felt like this a lot in life, just because I want order, like JP. This book shows that just because people are different, we can't alienate them. They're people too, and they deserve respect. I'll definitely end up reading this book again.
a true treasureJul 25, 2010
i love this book. first it makes u cry then laugh but pity jp for his father who is a misphit . his dad climbs on the roof and screams yer not me mum when jp tries to get him off the roof. this book is out despite the first persons review.
Courtesy of Teens Read TooDec 04, 2008
By TeensReadToo
"Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier."
When JP O'Brien's Grandma Mary dies, his orderly world quickly begins to unravel - his mentally challenged father becomes completely lost, and his mother, Mam, starts acting quite unlike her usual sheltered self. JP tries to make do in this new world, but when Mam wins a farmhouse in an essay contest and the family moves, things really come apart.
Mam insists on opening the farmhouse to just about every neighborhood outcast who comes by, and suddenly the house is filled with strangers who borrow his things without asking, and seem to be creating a world in the farmhouse that doesn't include JP or his father.
All JP wants is for the world to reorder itself, and his family to be restored to what it used to be. But what if the world is meant to stay the way it is? As the people in his life begin to make space for this sudden chaos, JP finds himself realizing that maybe family is more than just the people you're born with, and maybe chaos isn't the worst thing that has happened to him.
In this novel, Han Nolan presents a boy struggling to maintain control of his world even as it slips between his fingers. JP O'Brien is a sympathetic protagonist whose worries draw the reader into his world, and we find ourselves hoping that he gets what he wants.
Not everything that is broken gets fixed in A FACE IN EVERY WINDOW, but this novel is a heartwarming tale of family and friendship nonetheless.
Reviewed by: Rebecca Wells
 Weird Individuals Form a FamilyJul 05, 2007
By A. Luciano
JP has always known his family was unusual. His father is mentally retarded and his mother is often sickly and thinks she might die. His father and mother are like children when they are together. JP's grandmother is the one who holds the family together, and the four of them live together in a happy home.
Then JP's grandmother dies unexpectedly when he is fifteen, and the safety of his world shatters. Without his grandmother there for stability, things deteriorate into chaos. JP, who thrives on routine and the expected, is more and more uncomfortable every day.
Things get worse. JP's mother is spending a great deal of time with the doctor who treated her the most recent time she was in the hospital, and JP is convinced they are having an affair. When JP's mother wins an old farmhouse in an essay contest, she uproots JP and his father and the three of them move in. But they aren't the only ones to move there. Bobbi, a neighbor of theirs whose father beats her, joins them. There are few people JP hates worse than Bobbi. One of those people he hates worse, though, may just be his friend Tim's older brother Larry, a former drug addict whose family doesn't speak to him anymore. JP's mother also has Larry move in with them.
Soon the entire house is filled with weird people, who disrupt JP's routine and borrow his things without asking. He can't stand this life and can't stand the way he feels about everything. But is there any way for him to fit in with this new family?
I liked all of the different characters in this book and the ways JP found to relate to them. I also liked how the emphasis of the story was entirely on JP's home life, and his school life wasn't discussed at all.
I thought JP's mother was incredibly insensitive. I couldn't believe she didn't see something was wrong with her son and didn't make an effort to make him more comfortable in his own home.
See all 13 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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