Hi, I'm Zibi Owens, and you're listening to the Webby-nominated podcast,

Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.

I am so excited to be here today with Rex Ogle, who's the author of Free Lunch.

Rex was born and raised mostly in Texas.

He says, this is a quote,

I was one of the poorest kids at a school for the children of the wealthy.

I was on the subsidized lunch program and mocked endlessly.

This is my middle school experience, but I think it's an important story to tell.

A former children's book editor in New York City,

Rex and his partner now enjoy much nicer weather here in the Los Angeles area. So welcome to Rex. Thank you. It's true. The weather is nicer here. For sure. It's nicer here than pretty much anywhere. Yes. It's amazing. My kids and I and my husband loved your book. Like I don't always say that. I mean, I love, no, I shouldn't say it.

Hold on, hold on that. I really enjoy every book that's been on the podcast. Otherwise, I wouldn't have it on the podcast. However, this particular book, I feel like, should be required

reading for all kids in America, full stop. Like, really powerful and amazing. So I just

wanted to say that from the start. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Tell everybody what free lunch is about and what inspired you to write it. So free lunch is essentially

a typical middle grade story. You know, it has to do with like wanting to be on the football team

and, you know, trying to figure out where to sit and, you the transferring to a new school jitters but it also

has to do with my experience which had a lot of poverty and domestic violence and how that affected my

life did you because i was looking at the cover and i was like is he trying to sell this as a middle

school memoir because it doesn't say right away you don't know if it's your story or fiction.

It's 100% my story, and it is not fiction.

I sometimes wish it were.

But it is 100% the things that I live through the stuff that I had to experience on a day-to-day basis.

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