**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!