Small As An Elephant: Week of 3/31/14

Pages: 1-53
Prompt: Give a summary of the story so far. If you were in the same situation, how would you feel if you were Jack, the main character? How could you possibly relate to him?

     This week I started reading, "Small as an Elephant" and let me say, it's very intriguing! So far, I know that the main character is Jack, and his mother and himself were going on a camping trip for Memorial Day Weekend. Their plan was to have the best time of their life, and take everything in, but that didn't end up happening. After arriving at the campsite, Jack and his mother fall asleep in their tents, and when Jack woke up the next morning, his mother was gone; nowhere to be found. Unlike what most children would do, which would be finding an adult to get help, Jack decides to start to search for his mother. He had, had problems with his mother leaving him in the past, and he didn't want the same things to happen, with people taking him away, and asking him strange questions. Eventually he needed to eat so he went to the tiny camp supply store, but after he bought food and matches, he didn't have any money left, and he just kept keeping to himself until he met a nice family who he took a trip to the beach with. They had taken a bus that went around the whole campsite and all the beaches  around, and that's when Jack realized he could just ride the bus and check out all of the beaches everyday in search of his mother. There was just one problem, Jack and his mother only had the campsite rented out for four days, and Jack didn't know what he was going to do if his mother wasn't back by then because he couldn't pay to stay any longer. And that's basically where I left off. 

     If I were Jack, I would be extremely scared. I don't think I would be able to handle it if my mother abandoned me. I would go directly to an adult and tell them my situation. I wouldn't be able to go maybe more than 24 hours without some guidance from an adult, especially not at a camp site that is unfamiliar to me. I would be confused, and sad that my mother left, and probably just want to crawl up into a ball and cry, and cry, and cry. I wouldn't care about the questions, and the attention, or the adults talking to me and questioning me. If I had at least some sense of comfort because I wasn't going to be myself if I at least went to an adult, then I would be fine, but I definitely wouldn't have been able to stay by myself. I would also probably be upset by the fact that my mother just left me, without saying anything. I would think that she didn't care about me enough to stay, and stand by me, and take care of me, and I would feel very hurt. I wouldn't ever probably be able to trust my mom again if she abandoned me.

     Something else interesting is that the main character, Jack, is obsessed with elephants. Every chapter starts with a fact about elephants and he even has a tiny elephant that he carries around with him. I'm mentioning this because that little elephant was something that we could hold, or squeeze when he needed to feel reassurance or comfort. He could just feel it, and everything would be ok for him. That is something that I can relate to. When I'm at home and stressing about something or scared or sad about something, I can always hold my baby blanket. I know that sounds childish, but it helps me to feel comfort because it's an item that is special to me. When I'm in public, something I like to keep with me, especially at competitions, is a little pray stone. It helps me to concentrate, and rubbing it makes me feel reassurance, and it gives me a sense of good luck and confidence. I feel this is kind of how it is for Jack with his elephant. If he just feels it, he can have reassurance, and continue to be confident, and comfortable. I can definitely relate to Jack in this way, and this is something that if I were to be in the situation Jack was, I could turn to, to help me feel better. So, that's basically the story so far, and what I would do and how I could relate to Jack if I were to be in the same situation.