The Lottery Rose

by Irene Hunt

Book Overview

The Newbery Award-winning author of Across Five Aprils and Up a Road Slowly presents the story of a young boy from a troubled family who learns what it means to love...

Abused by his mother and her boyfriend, Georgie Burgess learns to hide his hurt. He withdraws into a safe and secret world of beautiful gardens filled with roses--just like those in the library book he treasures.

When Georgie wins a small rosebush...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425182797
• ISBN13: 9780425182796
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

This Book is the best I've Ever Read

Do you have a mom that abuses you on and off? Well, poor little 7-year-old Georgie does. One day he wins a rosebush and that rosebush becomes his best friend. This book, The Lottery Rose, by Irene Hunt is a tearjerker that scores a perfect 10. Then Georgie is sent to a boarding school by the state. Georgie befriends Robin who is a little boy who can't talk, but Georgie teaches him to speak a little. But one day Robin falls in a lake... Will he ever learn to speak fully? This odd friendship is startng to fall apart. Irene Hunt wrote Across Five Aprils & Up A Road Slowly, both winning Newbury medals. I recommend this book to young adults and adults that like sad books, but not to people who need a good laugh. Georgie needs to learn to forgive the world. Don't we all?

Evocative and haunting

When seven-year-old Georgie is beaten nearly to death by his mother and her boyfriend, the police take him out of his home and put him in a Catholic boarding school for boys. The only posession he brings with him is a rosebush he won in a lottery. At first, Georgie behaves like your typical abused child -- he is crabby and doesn't trust anybody. That especially includes Molly Harper, a woman who lives next door to the school. Molly lost a child about Georgie's age and at the beginning of the book she wanted nothing to do with little boys, and was furious when she found out that Georgie planted his rosebush in her garden. She ripped it out, earning Georgie's wrath. Molly later regretted her actions and allowed him to replant the bush, but he wouldn't forgive her. He'd spend lots of time in the company of Mr. Collier, her father, and Robin, her adorable retarded son, but he would barely speak to Molly. Through the kindness of Molly, Mr. Collier, the nuns who taught at the school, and his classmates, Georgie was eventually able to rise out of his earlier life and become a happy-go-lucky, lovable little boy. He even was able to forgive Molly. When tragedy struck, he and Molly both realized anew how much they meant to each other. While the book didn't say, I forsee Molly adopting Georgie in the future. This is a wonderful novel. The child abuse, while graphic, is not gratituous. The characters were very real and understandable, even Georgie's mother and her boyfriend. Portions of this book made me weep, which is not something that can be said for most books. I highly recommend, especially to anyone who is a mother that lost a child, or who is interested in child abuse and its aftermath.

Don't Judge This Book by it's Title

The Lottery Rose, by the excellent author Irene Hunt, is a heartwrenching story about a little seven year-old boy struggling to survive in his own household. His alcoholic mother and her evil boyfriend Steve physically and verbally abuse Georgie Burgess. Craving for love, and living in a broken home, he courageously endures his beatings hoping that someday it will end. At a grocery store lottery, Georgie wins a little rose bush, which receives all the attention, love, and care that he is starved of. The rosebush becomes a symbol of love and hope for the deprived child, and he becomes attached to it for security. Flowers are the only thing he finds true beauty in, which is why he is so connected to his rosebush. School is no refuge for this innocent child marked "trouble maker" by his ignorant teachers. He grew up being told and thinking he was dumb, which ruined his self-opinion from a young age. He has no where to run or hide from pain, and is chained to his mother by love, until one day Steve and Rennie go too far and nearly kill him in their usual drunken rage. The police then remove Georgie from his broken home filled with scarring memories. Georgie is removed from his home and placed in a Catholic school for boys. He has a difficult time learning how to give and accept love- something he's never had. He gains more self-esteem when he learns how to read, and realizes he was never dumb to begin with. It takes time to heal emotionally and not deny the scars covering his back. I compare this book to They Cage the Animals at Night an equally appalling and emotionally powerful novel based on a true story about child abuse. Books like these make your problems seem ridiculous and easy, and your life more fortunate. The painful experiences Georgie endured will haunt him the rest of his life; he will always be different. To make matters worse, he becomes best friends with a little boy who suffers from a mental problem. Georgie understands this boy named Robin, because they are both different. One day Robin dies, and Georgie experiences more tragedy. Irene Hunt has mastered the art of character development. As ALA Booklist states, "A deeply affecting, affirmative story..." The best thing about this book is it is only a story. I recommend The Lottery Rose to any reader who loves children, or who is an alcoholic, or who believes in anti-alcoholism, or is a Catholic, or is a mother who lost her child, or any person interested in reading an amazing novel about misfortune and life's many problems, and how they can be changed for the better. I give this book the 5 stars it deserves.

GREAT BOOK

Normally, I don't like stories that are sad or require you to be sympethising. However, this book is one of the best I have ever read. Its a moving story that no preteen or teenager should miss out on. My 6th grade teacher had the class read this book, and I adored it. A boy, who has nothing and is beated up by a evil man, loves roses. Later, he wins a bush that means everything to him. Yes, this sounds strange, but if you read the book it will make sense. After reading this book, I have a better appreciation of my life.

This is one of the best books I've ever read!!!

The book the Lottery Rose, written by Irene Hunt is a deeply touching and gripping story about a 7 year old boy named Georgie who is abused by his mother Rennie and her boyfriend, Steve. One day, when his mother is drunk and gives Georgie money to buy food at the grocery store,he uses the change to buy a lottery ticket. On the day of the lottery, he discovers that his prize is a rosebush. Georgie loves his rosebush. One night, after being abused, it is decided that Georgie will be sent to an all boy's school run by nuns in Tampa, Florida. There, he meets Sister Mary Angela who gives Georgie the opportunity to plant his bush almost anywhere he pleases. But where will he decide to plant his rosebush and will he be happy at his new school? The Lottery Rose is an emotional and realistic stroy of human struggle and injustice affecting the life of a young boy who has been victimized in his childhood. Georgies's innocent personality quickly captured my sympathy and pressed me to closely follow the events which unfold in this gripping story. The situations in which Georgie found himself seemed true to life and easily touched my sense of curiousity. Questions such as "Will Georgie find loving adults that will take good care of him?" "Will he be given a fair opportunity to develop his personal interests?" " Is Georgie destined to a life of misery or happines?" beckoned to be answered and motivated me to read the stroy to its conclusion.