The Thing About Georgie: A Novel

Fourth-grader Georgie has a good life. He has loving, talented parents--both professional musicians. He has a best friend, Andy, with whom he runs a profitable dog-walking business. He has a crush on the prettiest girl in his grade. And, oh yeah, he's also a dwarf.

Georgie has become used to the special accommodations made for him in school and at home. The janitor has placed his coat hook lower than those for the other students. His parents have taped Popsicle sticks to light switches so Georgie can reach them without trouble. And Georgie has become used to the staring and comments ever-present in his life.

All of a sudden, however, everything changes in Georgie's life. His best friend wants to include another boy, Russ, in the dog-walking business. Georgie just can't accept that Andy may make other friends and his jealousy messes up their friendship. Jeanie the Meanie, the kid everyone has known and despised since kindergarten for her erratic and sometimes cruel behavior, has made Georgie her own special project. And, Georgie's parents make a big announcement: Georgie is going to be a big brother! And the new baby...is not a dwarf:

"One day this kid, the one who wasn't even born yet, was going to be bigger than he was. It wouldn't take very long either; there were five-year-olds the same height as Georgie. Somehow it had never bothered him too much before. Georgie was short, and all those other kids weren't. But the thought of some kid living in his own home, growing taller every single day made him seriously queasy." (p. 43)

Georgie's predicament, on the surface of things, seems unique. But what I really love about "The Thing About Georgie" is that Georgie's story is really one of growing up, of figuring out who you are, and of opening your heart to others. Georgie, in the end, isn't much different from his peers. True, he's a dwarf and people sometimes stare at him. True, his parents will be having another child, one who is more "perfect" than he may be. But other people have problems too. His friend Andy, for example, has to share a room with his immigrant grandmother. And, Jeanie has to work against years of being the bad kid in her class, as well as having to deal with a difficult family life and attention issues. In the end, Georgie realizes that, yes, he has his problems and, yes, he's a unique individual, but, yes, he's not so very different in his individuality than anyone else.

Lisa Graff's debut novel, "The Thing About Georgie," is a novel Middle Grade readers will enjoy greatly. It's also a book perfect for the 3rd-6th grade classroom read aloud. Graff has structured the novel in an ingenious way. Each chapter is introduced by a "handwritten" account of what it's like to live as a dwarf ("Stretch your right arm high up to the sky. Now reach across the top of your head and touch your your left ear....Did you know you could do that? Well, Georgie can't"), but the struggles that follow are universal. "The Thing About Georgie" is the type of book that any pre-Middle Schooler will appreciate: each child has individual issues, but together they can deal with anything.

"The Truth About Georgie" is highly recommended for readers ages eight and up.

Georgie is a dwarf. That's the thing about him. But that's not what ultimately defines him. He's a boy who's having trouble with his best friend. He's a kid who is stuck with a difficult partner for a school report. He's a son who loves his parents, but worries what a new baby will do to his family. Georgie does face particular challenges, but he also sees the challenges that everyone faces all around him.

In The Thing About Georgie, the chapters are often introduced by a description of what it's like to be a dwarf. This narrator asks us to reach our arms over our heads, measure ourselves against a wall, and hold our tongue with our fingers. These exercises engage the reader in understanding Georgie much better than a mere description would have done. In the end, these opening segments relate to the story in an even more integral way.

In many children's books these days you'll find that the adults are useless, selfish, stupid, or cruel. Not so in this book. The adults are caring, kind, and supportive. They do occasionally disappoint, but not with intention or thoughtlessness. It's refreshing to read a book that doesn't pit the kid against the parents.

The Thing About Georgie is a book about a dwarf, but it's more about growing up like any kid in elementary school with regular kid problems. Overall, it was fun and interesting getting to know Georgie. I might also mention that my daughter's teacher used the book as a read-aloud in fifth grade, and with the interesting format and topics, it was VERY well-received.

This is a wonderful book. Lisa Graff is able to evoke feelings we all had in childhood - doubts, fears, jealousies - without once coming across as insincere or condescending to those feelings. At the same time, the reader's eyes are opened to the challenges Georgie faces in everyday life as a dwarf. The "asides" to the reader are an unusual feature - at first I found them a bit distracting, but quickly came to recognize them as a major part of the story and I enjoyed the surprise twist at the end.

I was surprised by the end of the book at how much I identified with and cared about Georgie. I imagine this would be a wonderful book to teach in elementary school, as its lessons about differences and challenges are strong without ever coming across as preachy. It's a fun book that brings you right into Georgie's world and leaves you looking at both childhood and physical challenges with a fresh set of eyes.

Lisa Graff has an ear for the middegrade voice. Never cloying, never cute she handles the subject with both humor and pathos. Readers are going to love GEORGIE. I know I did!

Georgie is an extremely likeable character. He's just a normal kid with the normal problems and feelings that any child can relate to. But through an anonymous narrator we learn what life is like for Georgie on a physical level. It's a great tactic because it really adds good visuals for the child reader without taking away from the story. Lisa Graff's style is similar to Louis Sachar's in "There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom." How can it get better than that?

This is one of the books my grand-son asked for his birthday. He is building his own library of books he has enjoyed.
I bought the book through, Amazon.com. I have bought many books through them. The books come in very good condition.

The thing about Georgie is that he is one of the most endearing characters you'll ever meet. He's got the normal problems of a boy growing up: jealousy when his best friend befriends another boy and wants to include the new best friend in the dog-walking business that Georgie masterminded; the worry that his parents will like the new baby they're expecting better than they like him; and being assigned to a project in school with the meanest and most non-participatory student in class--Meanie Jeannie. While Georgie explores the trials and tribulations of growing up, the narrator tugs at the reader's conscience regarding the other thing about Georgie. Georgie doesn't dwell on it because there's nothing he can do about it, and the narrator wants to heighten the reader's awareness, not their sympathy. You'll come away from this book empowered for having read it and fallen in love with Georgie, and his family and his friends, who lovingly raise their own consciousness against the enemy of discrimination.

Georgie's been overlooked plenty in his life, mostly by strangers. He's nine and only 42 inches (3 and a half feet) tall. He has a medical condition called dwarfism that means he's a lot smaller than most kids his age and that he will never be as tall as his average-sized parents. Some people look over Georgie's head or turn the other way, or just think he's a lot younger than he really is. Sometimes, this is mean, but mostly, they're just uncomfortable and unsure of what to do or say.

Since kindergarten, Georgie's been buddies with Alex, and he knows that his musician parents are always there for him. But now he's feeling overlooked by his loved ones too. His mom's pregnant, his best friend's mad at him, and his partner in class is known as Jeanie the Meanie. What's a kid to do?

THE THING ABOUT GEORGIE is fun and sweet. Readers will definitely want to befriend Georgie, especially if they know what it's like to have a new baby brother or sister. This is a notable debut, and I look forward to Lisa Graff's next book!