Orbiting Jupiter

Overall Content
Severity
1.2

Language

0.4/10

Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking

0.1/10

Intimacy, Sex, Immodesty

1.6/10

Violence, Weapons, Blood, Crime

2.2/10

Potentially Intense Themes

1.8/10

Orbiting Jupiter

Gary D. Schmidt

“I can’t see Jupiter,” Joseph said. “The moon’s too bright. And I don’t know where she is.”
“It’s where it always is,” I said.
“No, it isn’t.”
He wrapped his arms around himself. When he finally turned, I could see his breath in the moonlight.
“I’m going to find her,” he said. “I’m not going to stay alone. “
“You’re not alone.”
He shook his head.
“You’re not.”
“I’m alone,” he said.
“You’ve got me,” I said.
He laughed, but not a happy laugh. “Jackie, I’m a whole lifetime ahead of you.”
Excerpt taken from book cover.

Language

H***-4

**Religious cursing:

J****-1

There are a lot of times the characters curse but the book only describes it as, “words I shouldn’t say” or something similar.

Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking

A young man at school was “given something bad” (eluding to drugs) and when a teacher caught him, he tried to kill her.

Intimacy, Sex, Immodesty

An eighth grade boy has a baby daughter out of wedlock.  He had fallen in love with a young girl and after months of spending a lot of time together, she kissed him and they made love.  The girl’s nanny caught them.

It eludes to the fact that a young man was sexually assaulted  at least three times at a detention center by his peers.  It does not go into detail.  “they held him down and ……”

Violence, Weapons, Crime, Blood

After taking drugs in the bathroom, a young man is found by a teacher and he tries to kill her.  No details are given.

A young man tries to choke another boy for making a rude comment.

A young man gets beat up multiple times in a detention center but he doesn’t fight back.

In gym class, a group of boys gang up on another boy and attack him in the locker room.  When the boy’s friend comes to help, he sees one of the perpetrators on the floor with a bloody nose. Two other perpetrators were holding the boy and slamming him into the lockers.  He had welts on his back and blood on him.  The boy with the bloody nose stands up and goes to hit him in the face but he gets tackled and falls into the lockers.  The boy being held down knees one of the perpetrators in the groin and he throws up.  But the boy being held started punching over and over again.

A man with a gun is in a family’s house.  When a young man runs in to see what the yelling is about, the man grabs him around the neck and threatens to shoot him.  He is finally calmed down as one of the young men agrees to walk out the door with him.  The man is drunk, and starts driving fast.  He gets in an accident and plummets into a river.  The truck is submerged immediately.  It takes two days to get the bodies out.

Potentially Intense Themes

After going to detention, a young man comes out after two months and won’t talk about anything that happened there.  He won’t let anyone stand behind him, touch him, go into small rooms or eat certain foods.

A young man has nightmares at night where he tells people to let go of him but also calls out a name like he can’t find them.

When a boy was young, he saw a dog half submerged in a frozen river.  He tried to go to the dog but his mom held him back. The dog eventually slipped under the ice and died.  The boy dreams about the dog and that he was the dog.  It was very disturbing for him.   Then when that boy is older, his friend goes out on the ice and falls in also.  He tries desperately to save him, partially falling into the water himself and finally both get out.

A young man’s father has beaten him.

A young girl gets pregnant. She is only thirteen.  When delivering the baby she dies but the baby survives.  Her parents want the boyfriend to sign adoption papers or they will prosecute him for her death.   He tried escaping the detention center but he fell while climbing  and the fence cut him.

A man with a gun is in a family’s house.  When a young man runs in to see what the yelling is about, the man grabs him around the neck and threatens to shoot him.  He is finally calmed down as one of the young men agrees to walk out the door with him.  The man is drunk, and starts driving fast.  He gets in an accident and plummets into a river.  The truck is submerged immediately.  It takes two days to get the bodies out.

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