The Absolute Value of Mike — Kathryn Erskine

Mike tries so hard to please his father, but the only language his dad seems to speak is calculus. And for a boy with a math learning disability, nothing could be more difficult. When his dad sends him to live with distant relatives in rural Pennsylvania for the summer to work on an engineering project, Mike figures this is his big chance to prove himself. But when he gets there, nothing is what he thought it would be. Instead of an engineering assignment, he finds himself part of a town-wide project to adopt a boy from Romania while working alongside his wacky eighty-something-year-old aunt, a homeless man, and a punk-rock girl. Mike might not learn anything about engineering, but what he does learn is far more valuable.