Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Normal as cornflakes

Sarak Weeks is the author of "So B. It" but I read her book "Jumping the Scratch." In this book it related to the skip of a record after having been scratched. As easy a read as this book was and as simple as it had been written, it sure did knock me for a loop.

"Jumping the Scratch" is primarily about a little boy, Jamie, who moves from Battlecreek where he was "normal as cornflakes" into a tiny trailer far away where people treated him like dirt. His Dad left him and his Mom for a cashier and then his Mom's sister had a tragic accident at a cherry factory where she ended up losing her short term memory. So, they moved in with her and began a new life.

Jamie's aunt's name is Sapphire and they call her Sapphy. She has an amazing memory of everything up to the accident, but everything after is quickly forgotten. Every morning she wakes up and asks why Jamie and his Mom are a her house. Jamie is saddened by this deeply because his Aunt Sapphy had been his confidante of sorts, someone who truly listened and understood him.

In addition to the children bullying Jamie they also pick on a little girl named Audrey. Audrey claims she knows ESP and she wears black framed glasses that are missing the lens'. She clearly takes a liking to Jamie and sticks up for him often, much to his dismay.

There was a person in the story who came to his 5th grade class for a day to teach them about descriptive writing. Jamie referred to this man as Arthur even though that was not his name. Arthur, an outsider, made Jamie feel "normal" more himself then he had in a long time. It was from that point in the book that things began to mend.

Through the story there are references to something that happened to Jamie at this trailer park, something dreadful. Though it was obvious to me he must have been abused in some way, it wasn't clarified until the end of the book. The owner of the trailer park had sexually abused him while decorating the office for Christmas. This was explained in the middle of the night when during a bad dream Jamie had woken his Aunt Sapphy up. She stumbled into the living room and tripped over his cherry cans. Yes, Jamie placed stacks of empty cherry cans around his bed as a sort of security system. She asked him was was wrong and since he figured she would never remember he decided to tell her everything. Turns out the "trigger" Aunt Sapphy needed to regain all memory, what she needed to jump that scratch in her record was to hear what happened to Jamie. It was his tragic story which brought her out of her short term amnesia. Justice was served once Aunt Saphhy explained everything to Jamie's Mom.

The story hit home on many accounts. Jamies felt perfectly normal as he was until having been uprooted and placed in an environment where people treated him as a misfit. After the bullying and abuse from the owner of the trailer park, Jamie simply gave in and gave up. His dreams and best memories were about Battlecreek where he and his family were "normal as cornflakes." Though what he doesn't realize is just because his location changed doesn't mean he did.

Having only touched on key points in the book I have to insist you check it out, borrow it or buy it because it's really a fantastic story. It isn't life altering or anything but for me it was a tad bit therapeutic. And you know something...cornflakes are normal, but they are also very boring. =o)

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