Here is the iconic true story of Rex Ogle's efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade--who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he's trouble--all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend are out of work, his mom has signed him up for free meals instead of giving him lunch money, and life at home is punctuated by outbursts of violence.

Now available in Spanish, Almuerzo gratis provides a true, timely, and essential story that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America to a wider readership.

"Heart-wrenching, timely, and beautifully written, this is a powerful and urgent work." --School Library Journal, starred review

"Outstanding. . . . A mighty portrait of poverty amid cruelty and optimism." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review