Don't Call Me Jupiter: Book One "Tightrope"

In 1962, the Bross family was the picture of American perfection, handpicked to model Dr. Sabin’s oral polio vaccine for the Cincinnati Enquirer. But in 1973, everything changed.

After their mother’s second divorce, Tom and his siblings are plunged into a chaotic hippie lifestyle, marked by instability, abandonment, and rampant drug use. Their transformation from conservative Catholics to freewheeling nomads is a rollercoaster of heart-wrenching drama balanced with laugh-out-loud humor that keeps you turning pages.

In the first book of the series, Tightrope, Tom, with the aid of funds from Victims of Violent Crimes, recounts his family’s turbulent journey. At just 12 years old, Tom is uprooted from Davis, California, only to return homeless two months later. While his siblings are scattered among their friends' houses, Tom ends up in the garage of one of his mother’s ex-lovers. But this is just the beginning of their story.

If you were captivated by the raw honesty of The Glass Castle, the unconventional upbringing in Educated, and the dark humor of I’m Glad My Mom Died, then Don’t Call Me Jupiter is your next must-read.

Tom Bross is an active adult geek who probably peaked at age six when he was (A) crowned the 1968 San Francisco Hula Hoop Champion and (B) appeared as the Mustard Stained Boy in a national ad for Clorox bleach. Thus far, the only audiences Tom Bross has reached is through the television and radio commercials he created while pretending to work as a marketing and advertising professional. "If you're like me and you like helping people, then you'd love being a medical assistant..." Yes. That's one of his. (Tom Bross is not a doctor - but has played one on TV.)
 
"I was extremely sensitive as a kid; I always felt the full force of life's energy growing up. Even then, I knew my family was different and so I literally started taking notes, which eventually led to this book series."