Ebb and Flow

Eleven-year-old Jett narrates this story in free verse. After a long plane ride and what he calls a rotten bad year, he arrives at his Grandma Jo's for the summer. It was his mother's idea: she thought a change of scenery would do him good, and Jett suspects she needed a break from him too. In his own view, that bad year was his fault. The year before, Jett and his mother had moved to a new town for a fresh start after his father went to jail. But the fresh start didn't turn out as hoped. Jett befriended a boy with a difficult home life and was drawn into a cycle of bad decisions that ended with him betraying a friend. It is a shameful secret he still hasn't forgiven himself for. Whether a summer with his unconventional grandmother can help him find redemption is the question that drives the story. Heather Smith tells it in artfully crafted free-verse vignettes with a deceptively simple style. The mystery of Jett's secret keeps the pages turning, and the format suits both reluctant and avid readers. The book also lends itself to classroom discussion about the different ways to tell a story and how a few carefully chosen words can have a big impact. Its themes include empathy, resilience, courage and responsibility.