"Reading Stacey Longo’s Ordinary Boy is like opening presents on Christmas morning: the excitements of pathos, humor, terror, and surprise keep coming in this touching and relentlessly honest tale of growing up in small town America." ~ David Daniel, author of Reunion and White Rabbit My name is Curtis Price. Until my extraordinary death, I live an ordinary life in the poor side of town in Osprey Falls, Maine, with my mother and older sister. I am the boy that nobody sees, ignored in the shadows of the hallway. I am the kid that is picked last in gym. I am the student that is never called on in class to answer the question, and, after a while, I stop bothering to raise my hand. It is not until my stepfather shoots me that I am finally—finally—noticed. Before I meet my untimely end, let me start at the beginning. "Longo is an original, and Curtis Price, the protagonist and narrator of her novel, is an inspired and wholly believable creation. Ordinary Boy sounds the depths of youth, adolescence, and young adulthood in a voice at once deft and ghostly and heartbreaking. Huck Finn, Nick Adams, Holden Caulfield—they all would’ve “got” Curtis Price perfectly. ~ David Daniel, author of Reunion and White Rabbit “Ordinary Boy, Stacey Longo's debut novel, offers an insightful view into the life of a boy growing up under extraordinary circumstances. Its youthful optimism balances the harsh realities of a family’s survival in a tale that is bravely human, heartwarming, and devastating.” ~ Ursula Wong author of Purple Trees “In Ordinary Boy, the protagonist may be ordinary, but author Stacey Longo makes him interesting, and convinces us to care about his life. She creates poignancy and meaning out of all the pangs of youth, the horrors and minor joys. With deft touches, she portrays a struggle that pulls us into the story. An excellent and absorbing tale of growing up without special privileges or abilities, just a daily striving against a lousy hand that fate has dealt.” ~ Dale T. Phillips, author of the Zack Taylor mysteries