The Seventh Most Important Thing

The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall (ISBN: 978-0-553-49728-1)

Sometimes a book comes along that reminds you that you just love good books about real life.  This is one of those books.  Subtle, uncomplicated, sweetly told, predictably heartwarming.  It's also an interesting piece of history about James Hampton's folk art - a piece of Americana that I was unaware of until reading this book.

The story goes that Arthur Owens throws a brick at a man's head, and ends up in juvie court to discover his sentence.  Rather than return to jail, he is sentenced to community service helping the very man he attacked.  The Junk Man, aka: Mr. Hampton, is the neighborhood quirk though.  He travels the streets with a rickety shopping cart, picking through trash cans to take tidbits that others have discarded.  Arthur is definitely not excited about helping with this rubbish-collecting endeavor or what it will do for his reputation.  To make matters worse, at his first day on the job, he's given a difficult list of the Seven Most Important Things to find: light bulbs, foil, mirrors, pieces of wood, glass bottles, coffee cans, and cardboard.  Mirrors aren't just hanging out in everyone's garbage cans.  For weeks, Arthur continues to trudge along, collecting these items.

But it's one day that Arthur finally discovers what all of his collecting is for.  Mr. Hampton is building, within a garage behind a tattoo shop, a creation beyond description.  The Throne of the Third Heaven is pieces of what he believes Heaven will look like - but made out of... you guessed it... the Seven Most Important Things.  Light bulbs covered in pieces of sparkly foil and cardboard attached to chairs to look like angels' wings.  It's something to behold and Arthur begins to realize that his hours digging through refuse have paid off in a beautiful way.

The ending of the book I'll protect - but I'll say that reading about a troubled young boy forming a tender relationship with an eccentric aging gentleman was really a treat.  Anyone with a middle grade reader should encourage them to try this book, and then do a bit of Google image searching to learn more about the real artist behind the story.  Yay!

Want more? Watch this Vertigo-inducing video of the actual art display (seriously... something is up with this video quality - but it's still cool looking!)

Homemade tees:
I sort of feel like this shirt would be perfect for Arthur or Mr. Hampton.  Maybe you too could become a neighborhood recycler?