Ferriss and Miss Cowper, the latter even teaching him to read. By the end of the novel, Doug retrieves all of the pages from their respective owners and returns them to the library.ĭespite some suspicion surrounding Doug because of Christopher’s supposed crimes, Doug finds acceptance at school from certain teachers, like Mr. Doug is sad to learn that the library is cutting pictures out of the book and selling them off. Powell, Doug begins learning to draw and paint the birds. Under the tutelage of a worker there, Mr. He also visits the library regularly, where an illustrated book of birds by John J Audubon is kept behind glass. On one such delivery, he meets and befriends the eccentric writer, Mrs. Doug’s mother worries that when Lucas returns from fighting in Vietnam, there will be no room for him in their new, smaller home.Īt Marysville, Doug meets Lil, the daughter of a local deli, and he begins making deliveries for her father. Doug’s mother breaks up her beloved garden plot, and Doug’s best friend, Holling Hoodhood, gives him Joe Pepitone’s jacket as a parting gift. As the story opens, Doug’s father loses his job, forcing the family to move to Marysville, New York. Christopher quickly stole the hat and passed it around to his friends, devastating Doug. Doug relates that his most prized possession came from Joe Pepitone, a major league baseball player who visited Doug’s high school and left him his baseball cap. Doug’s soul comfort is making his mother, an avid homemaker and gardener, smile.

Doug Swieteck, a middle schooler, is the child of an abusive, alcoholic father with two abusive, trouble-maker brothers, Christopher and Lucas.

Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt