Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Seventh Most Important Thing
    The Seventh Most Important Thing
    The Seventh Most Important Thing
    Audiobook5 hours

    The Seventh Most Important Thing

    Written by Shelley Pearsall

    Narrated by Nick Podehl

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    This “luminescent” (Kirkus Reviews) story of anger and art, loss and redemption will appeal to fans of Lisa Graff’s Lost in the Sun and Vince Vawter’s Paperboy.

    Arthur T. Owens grabbed a brick and hurled it at the trash picker. Arthur had his reasons, and the brick hit the Junk Man in the arm, not the head. But none of that matters to the judge—he is ready to send Arthur to juvie forever. Amazingly, it’s the Junk Man himself who offers an alternative: 120 hours of community service…working for him.

    Arthur is given a rickety shopping cart and a list of the Seven Most Important Things: glass bottles, foil, cardboard, pieces of wood, lightbulbs, coffee cans, and mirrors. He can’t believe it—is he really supposed to rummage through people’s trash? But it isn’t long before Arthur realizes there’s more to the Junk Man than meets the eye, and the “trash” he’s collecting is being transformed into something more precious than anyone could imagine.…

    Inspired by the work of folk artist James Hampton, Shelley Pearsall has crafted an affecting and redemptive novel about discovering what shines within us all, even when life seems full of darkness.

    “A moving exploration of how there is often so much more than meets the eye.” —Booklist, starred review

    “There are so many things to love about this book. Remarkable.” —The Christian Science Monitor

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateSep 8, 2015
    ISBN9781501256875
    The Seventh Most Important Thing
    Author

    Shelley Pearsall

    A former teacher and museum historian, Shelley Pearsall is now a full-time author. Her first novel, Trouble Don’t Last, won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Her other books include Jump into the Sky, Crooked River, All of the Above, and All Shook Up.

    More audiobooks from Shelley Pearsall

    Related to The Seventh Most Important Thing

    Related audiobooks

    Children's Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Totally EMBARRASSING

      Nov 8, 2020

      Totally EMBARRASSING
      2 min read

    • Article

      Cruel Means, Bitter Ends

      Nov 10, 2021

      “In order for this speech to mean anything to me, I’ll need to dispense with the usual demagoguery and, instead, make an attempt at honesty. With this in mind, there is one thing I have to make clear. I’m not in this race to serve your interests, but

      12 min read

    • Article

      Living Things

      Sep 12, 2023

      The car was parked on the street where three out of the four of us lived. The trunk was open, and we were loading in our luggage while waiting for G. His being late surprised us less than the amount of stuff he had with him. He’d brought a flamenco g

      39 min read

    • Article

      Rent Arlington Hall’s Brain: The implant would make him a brilliant pianist for 24 hours.

      Jan 15, 2015

      Eight Hours To Go Thorne hesitated. The clinic’s storefront consisted of a glass elevator that went only down. Below the earth, into the unknown. A sign on its door read in elegant silver script: “Rent a Brain Today, Genius Guaranteed.” Thorne could

      14 min read

    • Article

      The Plagues Steph Cha

      Sep 29, 2020

      The Plagues Steph Cha
      9 min read

    • Article

      Commonplace Corner

      May 31, 2023

      I love everything that’s old: old friends; old times; old manners; old books; old wine. Oliver Goldsmith The makings were neatly laid out on a side-table, and to pour into a glass an inch or so of the raw spirit and shoosh some soda-water on top of i

      2 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Places

      Aug 9, 2018

      It began like any normal pregame in the woods. Naked, alone, hungover, a sweaty sleeping bag in the back of a dusty pickup truck, miles from civilization. Predawn in a narrow Utah river bottom, canyon country, early July. A Thermos of lukewarm coffee

      18 min read

    • Article

      The Oh-so Clever Life Of O’Brien

      Feb 24, 2022

      FOR A WOUNDING DEFINITION of the virtuous man it is always worth revisiting Tom Stoppard’s 1982 play, The Real Thing. Stoppard was writing about Brodie, a jailbird turned writer (at least in his own imagination), and in his famous “cricket bat” speec

      3 min read

    • Article

      Lay Your Burden Down

      Mar 1, 2019

      Lay Your Burden Down
      15 min read

    • Article

      To Be African American Is To Be Perpetually Exhausted By Race

      Aug 4, 2019

      Ed has had enough. "I'm simply tired, tired and tired of hearing about race," he wrote last month in an email. He signed himself a "former racist" and in a postscript, wanted me to know that he used to have "a black friend" with whom he ate breakfast

      2 min read

    • Article

      Life After Death

      May 27, 2022

      Life After Death
      14 min read

    • Article

      Excerpt: 'The Last Thing You Surrender'

      Feb 10, 2019

      In this abridged excerpt from "The Last Thing You Surrender" by columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., elements of the all-black 761st Tank Battalion make a grisly discovery and Pvt. Luther Hayes, whose parents were murdered before his eyes by a white mob whe

      3 min read

    • Article

      Evil Behind Closed Doors

      Jan 20, 2022

      Evil Behind Closed Doors
      3 min read

    • Article

      Commonplace Corner

      Jul 26, 2023

      So little, England. Little music. Little art. Timid, tasteful, nice. But one loves it. Loves it. You see I can say I love London. I can say I love England. I can’t say I love my country. I don’t know what that means. The Guy Burgess character in Alan

      1 min read

    • Article

      ‘An Unspeakable Outrage’

      Dec 4, 2023

      ‘An Unspeakable Outrage’
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Power Of One Book

      Jun 8, 2023

      The Power Of One Book
      5 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Sep 2, 2021

      Shelf Life
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Seventh Most Important Thing

    4/5

    22 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Beautifully written coming of age story with rich characters and intriguing nuisances that keep the reader captivated until the end. Timeless lessons that will leave you reflecting on how we often find beauty in the most unexpected people and places.
    • 4/5
      Good story with a good theme. Wish it had more in the way of emotional impact though but very hopeful ending