Middle Grade Review: Petey, by Ben Mikaelsen
Title: Petey Author: Ben Mikaelsen Publisher: Disney-Hyperion, 1998. 280 pages Source: School district book giveaway. (Book was leftover and is en route to other young readers, lest anyone think I was snatching books meant for our children). Publisher's Summary: In 1922, at the age of two, Petey's distraught parents commit him to the state's insane asylum, unaware that their son is actually suffering from severe cerebral palsy. Bound by his wheelchair and struggling to communicate with the people around him, Petey finds a way to remain kind and generous despite the horrific conditions in his new "home." Through the decades, he befriends several caretakers but is heartbroken when each eventually leaves him. Determined not to be hurt again, he vows to no longer let hope of lifelong friends and family torment him. That changes after he is moved into a nursing home and meets a young teen named Trevor Ladd; he sees something in the boy and decides to risk fri