Just Juice (Scholastic Signature)

Juice is a young girl living in extreme poverty. She is having trouble in school and turns her back on her education to help her father make money. Hesse has created a realistic story about the poverty happening in America. My students had no idea that families were living like Juice's in our

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country. This is can be a powerful and eye-opening read.

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Juice is a young girl growing up in a poor rural section of America. She skips school frequently because she cannot read and she feels inadequate. Her mother is pregnant, her little sisters are starting to become better readers then her. On top of all of this the family property is close to being

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lost due to back taxes.

This story is one I use in my classroom as a read aloud. It is sweet and the students relate to the school age girl and her problems. The only thing I felt the need to fast track through is the scene where Mom is having the baby. A bit too descriptive for my fourth graders.

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Juice is a young girl growing up in a poor rural section of America. She skips school frequently because she cannot read and she feels inadequate. Her mother is pregnant, her little sisters are starting to become better readers then her. On top of all of this the family property is close to being

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lost due to back taxes.

This story is one I use in my classroom as a read aloud. It is sweet and the students relate to the school age girl and her problems. The only thing I felt the need to fast track through is the scene where Mom is having the baby. A bit too descriptive for my fourth graders.

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This year, Juice Faulstich is back again in Miss Hamble's third grade class. Letters and numbers still don't make sense to her. But when an important letter comes to the family, someone's got to read it and break the news to Ma and Pa. Smack in the middle of this brood is the narrator, 9-year-old

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Juice Faulstich, a sweet, resilient tomboy who likes to explore and learn. She gets along well with her big and little sisters, has talent as an apprentice metalworker in her Pa's makeshift shop, and forgets every worry when she's dancing to fiddle music. She's so capable, in fact, she's the family member all the little ones look up to the most. Yet it turns out that the highly skilled Juice, who can handle everything from power tools to her Pa's depression ("We all look out for him. But I look out for him best, even Ma says so") is plagued by an inability to understand letters and reading. "No one believes me. No one believes how hard I try. No matter what I do, it's never enough," she explains.
Realizing that her father's lack of work has endangered her family, nine-year-old Juice decides that she must return to school and learn to read in order to help their chances of surviving and keeping their house.

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Genre: Novel
Audience: 3-4th grade

This is a novel about Justus or Juice who loves to tinker with tools in her fathers shed rather than go to school and learn. She is a kinesthetic learner and needs to feel things out before she can read or spell. This story is about the struggles of her family, her

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own journey in realizing that everyone is wired differently and that school can be interesting.

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Juice is a young girl who is going through struggles in school and life. She has a lot of worries on her plate: helping her father find work, keeping the secret of losing their home, and keeping up the façade of being able to read to her little sister. When everything seems to be going wrong,

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things unexpectedly make a turn for the better…thanks to Juice. This story is a moving novel that gives us a look into the children of poverty. I’d recommend sharing with 2nd-5th grade.

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a young child who doesn't want to go to school. she would rather help her father out around the house instead of going to school

I really liked this book. Iliked how it was unclear what time perid this book was set in. Her family was very poor, and they had many hardships to overcome. She was a good child in a sad situation. I would share this book with 6th grade and up.

Just Juice is a story of family and hardships. The main character, nicknamed Juice, finds out that their home is being foreclosed on. Throughout the story we are able to see a realistic view on what types of problems a family may go through during times like these. The story also revolves around

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literacy as Juice's father does not know how to read. It's a great book that gives the reader a real look into the strength families often have through trouble.

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This is a great story about a great close knitted family going though trials and tribulations with living in poverty. Juice takes you through her everyday life trying to help pa with work, and avoiding going to school. I loved this book because it shows you that no matter how hard life is, you

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always have your family!

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I liked this book. The story is realistic and relatable to some people going through this situation. Not my most favorite book, but I liked it. I would read it again.

Nine-year-old Justice, who everyone calls "Juice," is having a hard time. She can't read, so school is hard, so she usually just skips and stays home with her out-of-work father - who is also illiterate. Her mother is a diabetic, and is pregnant with a fifth child. Justice is the second of the four

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girls they already have. They are so poor, they struggle to have enough to eat, and to make matters worse, because they haven't been able to pay their property taxes in over two years, the government is likely taking their home. Juice guides her depressed and inadequate-feeling father to a path where he might be able to save at least some things, but by doing so, she is skipping school even more. And her mother, the more competent parent, has been kept in the dark about the tax issue, so she wouldn't worry so much that the baby she is carrying might suffer.
A very quick read, this book never feels as depressing as the plot description makes it sound. The sisters are mainly background characters, as the likable, but sad Juice, carrying the weight of the family on her shoulders, tells the story.

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I love Karen Hesse's stories. So heartfelt and with a strong voice.