THE SEVENTH MOST IMPORTANT THING, by Shelley Pearsall

The story: When he sees the Junk Man wearing his dead father's hat, Arthur reacts instinctively--he picks up a brick and throws it at the guy. Now sentenced to 120 hours of community service helping that very same old man, Arthur finds out what James Hampton is up to with all that junk--and it's more heavenly than he could ever have dreamed.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence PG; Sexual content G; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content G; adult themes (death of a parent, anger, poverty) PG; overall rating PG.

Liz's comments: I'd never heard of James Hampton's art before reading this book, and being able to follow the link mentioned in the afterword and go online to actually see what's in the Smithsonian made me like the story even more. With its less-than-stellar cover, I'm not sure how many kids would pick this one up on their own, but it's worth hand-selling to readers who like historical fiction.