small as an elephant

A person in my PLN read small as an elephant  by Jennifer Richard Jacobson for their book-a-day, so I decided to add it to my list.  Having no idea what this book was about, I kept setting it aside.  Finally, after much persistence from my two year old daughter to read the "underwearphant" book, I made it my book nine in the Book-A-Day Challenge.  I couldn't put down this great book!  Jack and his mother were going on a small trip to Maine, before the end of the summer.  However, Jack's mom disappears and he is left to fend for himself.  Jack does not want to ask for help, because he is worried about getting his mom in trouble with the authorities. He decides to make the trip, alone, without any money or food, from Maine back to Boston. Jack is used to his mom disappearing, as she has gone into her "spinning" phases before, but no matter what, Jack still has respect and love for his  mother.  Jack is determined to get to the one place where his mom will know that he still loves her and that everything is OK. 

As I was reading this book, I kept thinking about students past and present.  How many students have I asked if everything is alright, and they tell me a lie to protect their parents?  It makes me sad that children will put themselves in harms way to protect a parent, that is not suited to be a parent, even for reasons beyond their control.  After reading this book, I vow to build a rapport with ALL students, in case there may be a student going through a similar situation.  I can hopefully be someone that they can trust to go to for help, when their parent is not there mentally or physically, for them.