The multiracial Fletcher family is comprised of four boys — twelve-year-old Sam, ten-year-olds Jax and Eli (who are not twins), and six-year-old Frog — along with their adoptive Dads, whom they call Dad and Papa. Set over the course of a single school year, a warm, funny story in the tradition of classics like The Saturdays features wonderful family dynamics that will ring true to readers regardless of what their own family structure looks like. Over the course of the novel, each of the boys faces a dilemma. Sam, who has been single-minded about soccer, is taken by surprise at how much he enjoys acting in the school play and feels torn about where to put his energy. Jax chooses their crabby next-door neighbor as the focus of a year-long Veteran’s Project for school, but then finds it impossible to engage the unfriendly man. Eli hates the special school for gifted academic kids that he begged to attend, but now feels he has to stick with it. And Frog has a new friend, Ladybug, that the rest of the family assumes is imaginary, like the cheetah that lived under his bed. Their good-humored yet often exasperated parents and a variety of friends and neighbors all add to the fun of a story that is fresh, lively, and comforting. (Ages 7–10)

”Fans of Beverly Cleary’s Quimbys, Judy Blume’s Hatchers, and, more recently, Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwicks will fervently hope that more Fletcher misadventures are yet to come.” —School Library Journal, Starred

The start of the school year is not going as the Fletcher brothers hoped. Each boy finds his plans for success veering off in unexpected and sometimes diastrous directions. And at home, their miserable new neighbor complains about everything. As the year continues, the boys learn the hard and often hilarious lesson that sometimes what you least expect is what you come to care about the most.

 Praise for The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher 
 
A Junior Library Guild Selection 

[set star] ”Their banter is realistic, and the disorder of their everyday lives, convincing. The Fletcher family rules!” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred 

”Dana Alison Levy has gloriously reimagined the classic family story into a thoroughly modern mold, and it works perfectly.” —Bruce Coville, bestselling author of My Teacher Is an Alien and the Unicorn Chronicles

[set star] ”With its semi-episodic structure, laugh-out-loud humor, and mix of zaniness and love, Levy’s debut offers something truly significant: a middle-grade family story featuring gay parents and interracial families that is never about either issue.” —School Library Journal, Starred 

”Levy provides a compelling, compassionate, and frequently hilarious look at their daily concerns. By book’s end readers will want to be part of (or at least friends with) this delightful family.” —The Horn Book