It’s 1954, a year when polio, known as the great crippler of children, terrified parents. Jesse’s mom won’t let him go to the playground or hang out with friends for fear that he will catch the disease—so Jesse stays home, making up his own games with his grandfather and dog, Gort. No matter what Jesse does, he can’t seem to please his father, who wanted a basketball-baseball-football kind of son. Instead, Jesse spends his days drawing pictures, watching cowboy movies, and playing war with his army of metal soldiers. Then polio strikes, paralyzing Jesse’s legs. With the help of an unlikely girlfriend, Jesse turns his imagination to creating comic strips, reinterpreting his life as The Wonder Kid, with the power to make things happen by thinking them. In this strange summer of UFOs and fallout shelters and deadly hurricanes, Jesse discovers just how much he has in common with his father and what it really means to be a hero.

The Wonder Kid

Children's Books

Harrar, George

Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency

Literature & Fiction

HMH Books for Young Readers

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Books by Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Wonder Kid