A review by amdame1
The Thing You're Good at by Lesley Choyce

3.0

Jake's dad drinks and swears a lot but at least he is not violent. Jake's mom left the family years ago, his older brother Cole is in jail, and his younger brother Luke doesn't talk much; he just practices martial arts. Jake only has two friends: a girl named Maria who was born in the US but whose parents are undocumented and an older man named Oscar who seems to be homeless and spends all his time collecting bottles and cans to get the money from recycling them. Jake is just putting in time and not much effort until one day when Maria's parents are taken by the government to be deported. This propels him into action.
Swearing - but I'd still put in my middle school as is so very relevant these days. Hi-lo (Orca).