He holds his hand up to her face. "Celebrate this? I hate this. I hate this every day."

"You don't mean that," Lydie protests. "When the Gypsies come, you'll understand."

"Don't you get it, Lydie? They never come for gimps like me."

For a small town, Warsaw Junction has a lot of secrets. Who could guess that Augie Knapp, the kid who hides his deformed hand in a glove, has collected most of them...and hides them in an old suitcase?

No one even suspects Augie has a secret of his own until Lydie Rose Meisenheimer blows into town and signs up for sixth grade. Driving a broken-down convertible, wearing a black straw hat, and proclaiming herself Augie's new best friend, she turns his days into embarrassing nightmares.

But she also fills his nights with bright-shining visions of Gypsies -- Gypsies who could make Augie's dreams come true...if only he'd dare to dream a little harder.

The Gypsies Never Came is a bold departure for well-known author Stephen Roos. It's the story of a boy who wants to belong, a story that will make you laugh, break your heart, and change the way you look at the world.

 

This book has been graded for interest at 8-12 years.

There are 128 pages in this book. This book was published 2010 by Simon & Schuster .

Stephen Roos's most recent novel is The Gypsies Never Came, which School Library Journal, in a starred review, said "deserves a wide and eager audience. " Mr. Roos is the author of nearly two dozen books for young people, including Twelve-Year-Old Vows Revenge, Confessions of a Wayward Preppie, and You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone. Born in New York, Stephen Roos grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut. He attended Loomis School and graduated from Yale University. He lives in New York City and Litchfield County, Connecticut. Of Recycling George, he writes: "Life for my mom and dad was a movable feast. From fifth grade to high school I went to nine different schools, so I know about George's sense of rootlessness, his yearning for a place to call home. George, I think, makes the best of it. Definitely, he's got a lot of guts. He may not be a standard-issue, board-certified role model, but when I grow up, I'd like to be him. "