Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com
JUMPING THE SCRATCH is best described as a story about forgetting. For eleven-year-old Jamie, it's about forgetting an event that has traumatized him. For Sapphy, his aunt, it's about forgetting anything and everything that happens to her on a daily basis. But let's back up just a little bit...
Jamie Reardon has moved to Traverse City, Michigan, from Battle Creek, where he once had a real home, a mom and dad to always fix whatever was wrong, a cat named Mister who knew how to listen, and a normal-as-cornflakes life. But then Mister died, and his dad ran off with a cashier from the MicroMart, and his Aunt Sapphy was injured in a work-related accident. So that year, during fifth grade, Jamie and his mom moved in with Aunt Sapphy in her trailer at Wondrous Acres, and there was no big Thanksgiving dinner or sparkling Christmas tree. There was only Aunt Sapphy, who got hit on the head by a falling pipe during her shift at the Cheery Cherry canning factory, and now can't form any short-term memories. There's Jamie's mother, who took a third-shift job at the same cherry factory because it was the only place hiring. There's Marge, the home nursing aide, who doesn't like anyone, especially Aunt Sapphy. And then there's Jamie, who changed sometime around Christmas, and yet no one seems to notice.
While Jamie is busy dodging the verbal bullets of his teacher, Miss Miller, and the crazy questions of Audrey Krouch, a fellow student who also lives in Wondrous Acres, he's also trying to forget. Forget what happened on Christmas Eve, with Old Gray, the guy who sits in the office at the trailer park. It's funny how memories work. While Jamie works hard to find the magic trigger to give Sapphy back her memories, he wants nothing more than to erase his own.
It's easy to sympathize with Jamie, especially with the careless adults that surround him in JUMPING THE SCRATCH. Although I would have liked the story to be longer and more filled out, this is a quick, emotional read. It's definitely interesting to watch Jamie's transformation, to read about the intriguing Aunt Sapphy, and to see into the heart and mind of the wonderfully odd Audrey.
JUMPING THE SCRATCH is best described as a story about forgetting. For eleven-year-old Jamie, it's about forgetting an event that has traumatized him. For Sapphy, his aunt, it's about forgetting anything and everything that happens to her on a daily basis. But let's back up just a little bit...
Jamie Reardon has moved to Traverse City, Michigan, from Battle Creek, where he once had a real home, a mom and dad to always fix whatever was wrong, a cat named Mister who knew how to listen, and a normal-as-cornflakes life. But then Mister died, and his dad ran off with a cashier from the MicroMart, and his Aunt Sapphy was injured in a work-related accident. So that year, during fifth grade, Jamie and his mom moved in with Aunt Sapphy in her trailer at Wondrous Acres, and there was no big Thanksgiving dinner or sparkling Christmas tree. There was only Aunt Sapphy, who got hit on the head by a falling pipe during her shift at the Cheery Cherry canning factory, and now can't form any short-term memories. There's Jamie's mother, who took a third-shift job at the same cherry factory because it was the only place hiring. There's Marge, the home nursing aide, who doesn't like anyone, especially Aunt Sapphy. And then there's Jamie, who changed sometime around Christmas, and yet no one seems to notice.
While Jamie is busy dodging the verbal bullets of his teacher, Miss Miller, and the crazy questions of Audrey Krouch, a fellow student who also lives in Wondrous Acres, he's also trying to forget. Forget what happened on Christmas Eve, with Old Gray, the guy who sits in the office at the trailer park. It's funny how memories work. While Jamie works hard to find the magic trigger to give Sapphy back her memories, he wants nothing more than to erase his own.
It's easy to sympathize with Jamie, especially with the careless adults that surround him in JUMPING THE SCRATCH. Although I would have liked the story to be longer and more filled out, this is a quick, emotional read. It's definitely interesting to watch Jamie's transformation, to read about the intriguing Aunt Sapphy, and to see into the heart and mind of the wonderfully odd Audrey.
