3.5 stars 
 I went into The Seventh Most Important Thing not knowing what to expect, but it wowed me. The book follows the story of Arthur, a boy who goes to juvie for throwing a brick at the "Junk Man" (Mr. Hampton) in his town. Following juvie, Artie finds himself stuck with community service...working for the very man he "attacked." Artie's not a bad kid, but he's dealt with a lot of pain lately, including losing his father. Arthur's job is to collect junk throughout the neighborhood, following a list of Mr. Hampton's Seven Most Important Things (cardboard, lightbulbs, mirrors, foil, etc), but he doesn't know why. Throughout the story, each important thing on Mr. Hampton's list ends up playing an important part in Artie's life, helping him grow and redeem himself. I loved the connect there and thought it was a really interesting and smart choice to make. I enjoyed that this story had a heavy focus on friendship and on finding creative and helpful ways to deal with death and bottled up emotions. There's also a bit of a mystery aspect when it comes to figuring out why Mr. Hampton wants Artie to collect such specific "junk." 
 At the end of this book, I learned that the plot was actually based on a real story and a real man with the same name. That made me like the story even more to know that while some of it was fictional to tell a compelling story, some of it was based on truth. I also realized after reading this book that it was set in the 1960s. While I think the story was universal, there could've been more emphasis on this because I honestly didn't even realize the book wasn't set in modern times until I noticed it was listed under "historical fiction" on GoodReads. 
 I have received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
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