51 pages • 1 hour read
And Then, Boom!
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Pages 165-216Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of poverty, starvation, and child abandonment.
Note: These pages contain the poems “The Knock On The Door,” “Places to Go. People to See.,” “The Right Thing,” “Dawggone Hole,” “The Magic Closet,” “Mrs. Swan. My Superhero,” “Rock. Paper. Scissors.,” “We Have to Talk,” “Logic Train,” “Worst Thing Ever,” “I’m Not Alone,” “Running Out,” “Surprised, Not Surprised,” “Problem Solved,” “Leaning On Each Other,” “The Grocery List,” “Disconnected,” “The Five Marbles,” “Going, Going, Gone,” “Just a Fraction,” “Making Sure I Don’t Go Hungry,” “Satisfying Sounds,” “Right Hook!,” “Oh Deer!,” “Did What I Asked,” “What Hunger Feels Like,” “Oak. Joe Oak,” “Dumpster Diving,” “Olympic Medalist,” “Eating Leftovers,” “Can’t Win,” “Maybe,” “Can’t Be All That Bad,” “Bad Beef Stew,” and “All That For Nothing.”
Pages 165-216 Summary
A loud knock at the door scares Joey. Worrying that the police have come, he picks up the baseball bat and opens the door to find Uncle Frankie, who saw him rescuing the dogs and now offers to help take care of them. Joey admits that he has no money.
Uncle Frankie takes the dogs to a vet friend, who agrees to treat them for free in exchange for going fishing with Uncle Frankie’s bass tournament team. The vet teaches Joey how to care for the dogs and gives him supplies. They swing by the Humane Society to pick up food from the pet pantry that is available to people who can’t afford to feed their animals. Joey thanks Uncle Frankie.
One of the puppies (named Dawg) chews a hole in Joey’s jeans, so Joey mends the hole with duct tape. In school, the tape sticks to the rug and rips Joey’s jeans even more, and everyone laughs except his friends. Mrs. Swan shows Joey a closet where she keeps lots of extra clothes. She encourages him to take whatever he needs, and he admits that he needs new sneakers too. Joey feels proud to wear new shoes.
