small as an elephant

small as an elephant

Sadly, there are a lot of kids who have parents who, through no
fault of their own, are unable to take care of themselves, let alone
their children. A child will have to take over care of self and
siblings and even parent the parent. I knew of a young lady who had
trouble doing middle school homework because her much younger sister
and brother were a handful and her mother had to be bailed out of
situations regularly. For other kids the abandonment is physical as
is the case with Jack, protagonist of Jennifer Richard Jacobson's
small as an elephant.
Jack knows that his mother isn't like other kids' parents. Her
life unfolds in roller coaster like cycles. In her "spinning times"
she's enthusiastic, confident, alive, unpredictable..."flying high.".
At other times she takes off, leaving no indication of where she's
gone or when she'll be back. Usually this is on home turf. Jack can
fend for himself but...
...this time she's disappeared on a vacation trip to Maine.
They're camping out on Mount Desert Island. Jack wakes up to find
that his mother's tent and car are gone. At first he thinks she'll be
back. He doesn't seem entirely sure though. He is very careful that
a family who has befriended him doesn't notice her absence.
Eventually the cold hard truth sets in.
At the age of eleven Jack must either find his mother or make
his way home to Massachusetts. He has pitifully little in the way of
resources. He can't call on adults for help like he knows other kids
can. The threat of DSS hangs over him. He's sure they and his
grandmother want to take over his custody.
If there's a sense of realism in Jack's trek there's a very good
reason. In Jacobson's words, "I struggled to figure out how Jack, an
abandoned boy, would survive in the wilderness, out in civilization.
I physically traced Jack's route (every place he visited actually
exists) and tried to imagine what the journey would be like for an
eleven year old, entirely on his own and with a big secret to keep."
On a personal note, last night was a perfect night at community
garden. Everything looks so good! I walked instead of taking the
bus. That let me save $1. Why? I will need a lap top when I start
grad school, hopefully in 2014. I'm saving my pennies. Literally.
Also I'm recycling beverage cans and walking instead of bussing when I
can. I have $24 toward Betsy Christine. And I have a lovely grey lap
top case with pink rosebuds. A wardrobe for the baby.
A great big shout out goes out to the human Betsy and Christine I saw
fit to name my future lap top after.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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