The Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers

I loved this book. Wildly creative, and wonderfully written!! This book is narrated by a young boy named Grady who is traveling with a con man named Floyd. Floyd tells Grady that he found him during his travels and Floyd is all Grady has, but all Grady wants is to be loved and Floyd has no love to spare. As they travel they pretend that Grady is a "feechie" a rare breed of human found deep in the swamps that no one has ever seen before. They make a decent living for awhile with this scam until people start to wise up and they have to up the ante. They try several different ideas one of which is to have Grady be the "world's ugliest boy." The desire he feels to actually BE the world's ugliest boy so that he is the best at something comes off the page and just punches you in the stomach, his longing to belong and be loved is palpable. The story moves a great pace and keeps you fully engaged and the message is wonderful, we all want to be loved and belong and we do, we all belong, somewhere. The story did not end the way I expected, it was much better! This is a wonderful book for kids, but I also enjoyed it very much as an adult!! I think you will love it just as much, click here and enjoy! I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my review from WaterBrook Press, the opinions are entirely my own.