The Seventh Most Important Thing

Shelley Pearsall

The Seventh Most Important Thing, by Shelley Pearsall, is about a boy named Arthur who threw a brick at someone called the Junk Man. Although Arthur hit the Junk Man's arm, and not his head, the judge does not care. After going to juvie, Arthur is sent to court where the judge is ready to throw him into juvie for the rest of his years. But instead, the Junk Picker wants Arthur to do 120 hours of community service for him. Arthur is given an old, rickety looking shopping cart to collect the seventh most important things, which to Arthur's surprise, is a list of trash. But what he didn’t know was that that one brick would take him on a heart-wrenching, beautiful journey.

Little does Arthur know that the trash he is collecting will be turned into a beautiful masterpiece.

I enjoyed reading The Seventh Most Important Thing. It was a realistic-fiction story but the masterpiece/art is based off a real artwork by James Hampton. It is called The Throne of the Third Heaven. James Hampton (the original artist) was a folk artist who created the Throne of the Third Heavens in the 1960's. The entire creation was made out of the seven important things, aka trash. The seventh most important things, though in the beginning seemed silly, teaches the readers as well as Arthur important life lessons at the end. The writing style is easy and calming. It simplifies the thought process of having dozens of emotions floating around someone's head. It is full of genuine emotions, simple sentences, and is very fun to read.

Grade Level:

- Suggested: 5th-6th

- Advanced: 4th

Genre: Realistic-fiction

Key Elements: Trash, masterpiece

Possible Themes: Family

Overall Rating: 4/5

Happy Reading!

-The Book Lover-

If you like more details about the book or would like to request something for me to read, you can contact me at thebooklovercontact@gmail.com