Free Lunch

By: Rex Ogle

Narrated by: Ramon De Ocampo

A distinctive new voice: Rex Ogle's story of starting middle school on the free lunch program is timely, heartbreaking, and true. Free Lunch is the story of Rex Ogle's first semester in sixth grade. Rex and his baby brother often went hungry, wore secondhand clothes, and were short of school supplies, and Rex was on his school's free lunch program. Grounded in the immediacy of physical hunger and the humiliation of having to announce it every day in the school lunch line, Rex's is a compelling story of a more profound hunger - that of a child for his parents' love and care.

Compulsively listenable, beautifully crafted, and authentically told with the voice and point of view of a sixth-grade kid, Free Lunch is a remarkable debut by a gifted storyteller.

©2019 Rex Ogle (P)2019 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

“Outstanding, gracious writing and a clear eye for the penetrating truth. A mighty portrait of poverty amid cruelty and optimism.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

Narrator was awesome

His voice and accent changes were effective. Each character has their own tone. Brought the story together.

Grown-up, sad/emotional, beautiful

I haven't enjoyed such a well-written book in years. I cried a lot. Such a talented author.

the narrative was amazing

This story really guided you through the perspective of a child trying to do better than his parents and living in poverty and the feelings this bring out. It's my favorite read of 2024

The content.

The truth and transparency touched on the life many of us do not see or are conscious of. The struggles of the poor are sad.

This is about as real as you can get

So much truth in what some of my students have gone through. I always have hope that their lives not as hard as Rex's. Worth it to get a grasp of the students that most people do not want to think about.

Eye-opening.

Coming from a very middle class background, I haven't encountered students in a situation like Rex had, not that I can recall, anyway. Ramon's narration is, as usual, spot-on, hitting all the right emotional notes and voices for different sequences. This book truly shows that some have it worse off than others, and some take that for granted.

Amazing

This book was a pleasant reminder of an unpleasant past. My youth was very similar to Rex’s and I absolutely love this book.

Rex’s heartbreaking reality 💔

This book was so honest. He didn’t sugarcoat it. Just told the truth of what he dealed with. No child should have to endure that. But Rex didn’t let that affect the way he treated people. He may have yelled at his mom but compared to what she and her husband did to him. That was nothing. I admire how he still showed compassion toward his mom even after all she did to him. And what a great brother he was to Ford. I hope everything worked out in the end ❤️

Sad, heartwarming, and real

This story is real. Sometimes life isn’t fair and listening to this story from Rex’s point of view is sad but heartwarming as well as he grows in understanding.

Perfect

Should be required reading for all teens and pre-teens! Heartbreaking and accurate description of living in poverty in the USA as a child. My favorite quote was “Being poor in this country is like--like starving at an all-you-can-eat buffet. You can see all of this food piled high, but you can't have any of it. It's just out of reach. Like everything else. Jobs. Houses. The things you see in TV commercials. It's all a pipe dream for people like us. It's all window-shopping. The grocery stores, the malls, the car lots everywhere. It's all luxury, and people don't realize how lucky they are if they can afford any of it. We know, because we can't have any of it. No matter how hard we work, we'll never have money like the people at the top. We work just as hard as they do. Harder sometimes. But we'll never make the money they make. The system is broke.” Rex Ogle’s Free Lunch is perfect.