Petey

by Ben Mikaelsen

Overview

Inspired by a true story, this heartwarming tale from award-winning author Ben Mikaelsen celebrates friendship, discovery, and the uplifting power of the human spirit. 

In 1922, at the age of two, Petey's distraught parents commit him to the state's insane asylum, unaware that their son is actually suffering from severe cerebral palsy. Bound by his wheelchair and struggling to communicate with the people around him, Petey finds a way to remain kind and generous despite the horrific conditions in his new "home." Through the decades, he befriends several caretakers but is heartbroken when each eventually leaves him. Determined not to be hurt again, he vows to no longer let hope of lifelong friends and family torment him.

That changes after he is moved into a nursing home and meets a young teen named Trevor Ladd; he sees something in the boy and decides to risk friendship one last time. Trevor, new to town and a bit of a loner, is at first weary of the old man in the wheelchair. But after hearing more of his story, Trevor learns that there is much more to Petey than meets the eye.
 
In this poignant and inspiring tale, Ben Mikaelsen weaves humor and heart into an unforgettable story about the dignity, respect, and human connection that every person deserves. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423131748
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	06/22/2010
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	142,671
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 5.20(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Ben Mikaelsen is the award-winning author of many books for children, including Petey, Countdown, Rescue Josh McGuire, Stranded, and Sparrow Hawk Red. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 7 Up-This ambitious book succeeds on a number of levels. It is based on a true, tragic situation in which Petey, born with cerebral palsy in 1920, is misdiagnosed as mentally retarded. Unable to care for him at home, his parents relinquish him to the care of the state, where he languishes in a mental institution for the next five decades. Step by institutional step, readers see how this tragedy could happen. More importantly, readers feel Petey's pain, boredom, hope, fear, and occasional joy. A handful of people grow to know and love him over the course of his long and mostly difficult life, but few are able to effect much change. In 1977, statewide reorganization and a new, correct diagnosis result in Petey being moved to a local nursing home. There, the final, triumphant chapters of his life are entwined with an eighth-grade student named Trevor, who finds his own life transformed by love and caring in ways he never could have imagined. Mikaelsen successfully conveys Petey's strangled attempts to communicate. He captures the slow passage of time, the historical landscape encompassed. He brings emotions to the surface and tears to readers' eyes as time and again Petey suffers the loss of friends he has grown to love. Yet, this book is much more than a tearjerker. Its messages-that all people deserve respect; that one person can make a difference; that changing times require new attitudes-transcend simplistic labels. Give this book to anyone who has ever shouted "retard" at another. Give it to any student who "has" to do community service. Give it to anyone who needs a good book to read.-Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA

School Library Journal

Born in 1920 with cerebral palsy and dismissed by ignorant doctors as feeble-minded, Petey Corbin spends all but the first two years of his long life institutionalized, his world barely larger than the walls of an asylum ward or, much later, nursing home. Within those walls, further imprisoned in an uncontrollable, atrophied body, he nonetheless experiences joy and love, sorrow, loss, and triumph as intensely as anyone on the outside. Able to communicate only with rudimentary sounds and facial expressions, he makes a series of friends through the years; as a very old man in a 1990s setting, he comes into contact with Trevor, a teenager who defends the old man against a trio of bullies, and remains a loyal companion through his final illness. This is actually two books in one, as with a midstream switch in point-of-view as the story becomes Trevor's, focusing on his inner growth as he overcomes his initial disgust to become Petey's friend. Mikaelsen portrays the places in which Petey is kept in (somewhat) less horrific terms than Kate Seago did in Matthew Unstrung (1998), and surrounds him with good-hearted people (even Petey's parents are drawn sympatheticallyþthey are plunged into poverty during his first two years by the bills his care entails). There are no accusations here, and despite some overly sentimentalized passages, the message comes through that every being deserves care, respect, and a chance to make a difference. (Fiction. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews

Based on a real person, PETEY is a book that forces listeners to look at their own prejudices and wonder at the vagaries of life, fate, and God. Petey Corbin, born in 1920, when nothing was known about cerebral palsy, was diagnosed as an idiot and abandoned in an asylum. L.J. Ganser's narration is exceptional, bringing Petey to life with his limited words and sounds, yet managing to convey all the pain, loneliness, and even joy that Petey experiences as he grows from birth to an old man throughout the story. Ganser also creates unique voices and personalities for all the major and minor players that move in and out of Petey's life. In the end, we care deeply for this man who asked for nothing but gave so much to those who took the time to know him. W.L.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

AUG/SEP 01 - AudioFile