Very Rich

by Polly Horvath

Overview

Ten-year-old Rupert Brown inadvertently finds himself spending Christmas with the wealthiest family in town and is astonished to discover a world he never knew existed.

Rupert lives with his parents and many siblings in a small house in the poorest section of Steelville, Ohio. When he spends Christmas with his classmate Turgid Rivers, he is offered all the food he can eat, and the opportunity to win wonderful prizes in the family games—prizes he hopes to take home so he can share his Christmas bounty with his family.  But after he loses everything in the last game, Rupert resigns himself to going home empty handed. 

Feeling secretly guilty, all of the adults in Rivers family try to make it up to him by taking Rupert on one unlikely adventure after another, embroiling him in everything from time travel to bank robberies.  But can anything he experiences make up for what he has lost?

Deftly blending magical realism with heartbreak, hope, and a wide cast of eccentric characters, Polly Horvath weaves a tale that is darkly funny and deeply poignant.  Very Rich is a bittersweet and quirky story that celebrates the unique nature of human experience.

A Junior Library Guild selection!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823440283
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	09/25/2018
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	821,721
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Polly Horvath has written many books for children including Everything on a Waffle, a Newbery Honor Book; The Canning Season, a National Book Award winner; and The Trolls, a National Book Award finalist. She lives in British Columbia with her family. Visit her at www.PollyHorvath.com.

Editorial Reviews

09/24/2018
Trekking to school only to realize it’s Christmas Day, 10-year-old Rupert Brown, part of a large and impoverished family, finds himself in the “very rich” part of Steeleville, Ohio. After Rupert faints on the lawn of Turgid Rivers, “the richest boy at school,” he spends the day with the eccentric Rivers family as they indulge in extravagant meals and engage in a series of competitive games. His pile of prizes growing, Rupert fantasizes about bringing his winnings back to his family, only to have those hopes dashed as he loses it all. After Rupert’s loss and return to his routine of hunger and sibling hordes, members of the Rivers family seek him out to embark on adventures, including a secret restaurant takeover that leaves customers literally floating with happiness, a trip back in time, and a bungled jewel heist. Rupert’s hijinks with the various Rivers prove enlightening, imparting that, no matter one’s provenance, life is “a unique and glorious thing.” Packed with outrageous characters and moments of brilliant clarity, Horvath’s holiday romp touches on thankfulness and the importance of self-acceptance. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

2018-08-01

Rupert Brown discovers a family as odd as his own—but in which food, clothing, warmth, and money are abundant and barely noticed.

Ten-year-old Rupert's family is so large that his mother claims she can't remember all the children's names. Food is scarce, and the older children must sleep under the beds for lack of room. Quiet, shy Rupert is sweetly earnest as he tries to stay optimistic. By chance, Rupert finds himself inside the mansion of the richest family in his town of Steelville, Ohio, on Christmas Day, "full to the top" with food. Following a bewildering series of family games, he's the winner of a pile of amazing presents, and it is nearly more than he can bear to lose all his prizes at the last moment. The members of the eccentric Rivers family are casually generous yet callously unaware of Rupert's dire circumstances as he returns home in the cold and snow. In the weeks that follow, and one after another, Mrs. Rivers, Uncle Henry, Uncle Moffat, and Aunt Hazelnut each reach out to offer Rupert a share in their own magical and slightly weird adventures. The result is enriching indeed, though Rupert's constant hunger as food is promised and then whisked away is both palpable to readers and emblematic of this Dahl-esque gulf between classes. All the characters are assumed to be the default white.

Horvath is at her odd, arch best here—generous with her wry observations of people and their awkward relationships and foibles. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews

"Horvath is at her odd, arch best."—Kirkus Reviews

"a brainy, unusual, and entertaining confection."—The Horn Book

"Packed with outrageous characters and moments of brilliant clarity, Horvath’s holiday romp touches on thankfulness and the importance of self-acceptance."—Publishers Weekly

"Readers who enjoy quirky, episodic adventure stories will find themselves swept along by the current of Horvath’s latest imaginative novel."—Booklist

"Very rich indeed! Clever quandaries, witty dialogue—all crisply written with giddy Horvath cheerfulness—topped off with a whipped-cream message of wonderment that will never grow old."—Jack Gantos, author of the Newbery Medal-winning Dead End in Norvelt

"Very Rich is wild, wise, and wonderful."—Julie Berry, author of The Passion of Dolssa, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book and The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place

From the Publisher

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