Left Behind (Jasper John Dooley Series #2)

by Caroline Adderson, Ben Clanton (Illustrator)

Overview

Every Wednesday, Jasper John Dooley plays Go Fish for jujubes with Nan at her apartment. They ride up and down in the elevator as many times as he wants. And they use a trunk of old clothes for games of Dress Up Nan. So how can she go away on a cruise to Alaska for a week and leave him behind? Thinking about it makes Jasper feel funny. It's like all the air is seeping out through a hole in his belly. “It just feels pththth.” After Jasper accidentally staples his belly at school and gets two more holes, one Band-Aid alone isn't enough to keep the air inside him all week — it takes thirty-four Band-Aids to patch him up! Will Jasper find a way to survive his time apart from Nan? This title from the chapter book series by Caroline Adderson beautifully and age-appropriately conveys how it feels to love someone dearly, and to miss them terribly. It would make an excellent starting point for classroom discussions or writing assignments about these emotions. With its engaging and entertaining story, it will also be a favorite for independent reading time. Jasper John Dooley is a quirky and memorable character who is funny and just a bit irreverent. And Adderson's depictions of life in early elementary school are spot-on: particularly hilarious are the capitalized descriptive names, such as when Jasper gets in trouble for “doing a Very Dangerous Thing at recess.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771381505
Publisher:	Kids Can Press
Publication date:	09/01/2014
Series:	Jasper John Dooley Series , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	132
Sales rank:	851,397
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Caroline Adderson lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband, her dog and the son who lied to her when he said he would always be seven.

Ben Clanton is an up-and-coming author-illustrator from Seattle who describes himself as a "story scribbler, picture squiggler, book aficionado, child advocate, dragon tamer and avid sock wearer." Vote for Me! is the first book he has both written and illustrated.

Editorial Reviews

Early chapter book or read-aloud, this effort will leave its audience with lots of smiles too.—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Adderson has a real sense of the strange, inventive imaginations (and emotions) of 7-year-olds and Jasper's adventures are funny, unpredictable and utterly convincing. A worthy successor to the exceptional Jasper John Dooley: Star of the Week.—The Toronto Star

Emerging readers will enjoy following along with the quirky, charismatic boy and his friends and family in this humorous adventure. Pencil illustrations add to the story's charm.—School Library Journal

Fans will relish the return of Jasper and his irrepressible spirit.—Booklist Online

From the Publisher

Gr 1–3—One of Jasper's favorite things to do is to spend Wednesdays with his Nan, riding the elevator up and down, playing Go Fish, and eating jujubes. When he learns that his grandmother is going on an Alaskan cruise for a week, he is worried that she might never come back. The worst part is that he has to stay with a baby-sitter on Wednesday. It's a busy week while Nan is gone, though, as Jasper accidentally staples his stomach, attempts to build a cruise ship with a friend, and takes the class hamster home for the weekend. Emerging readers will enjoy following along with the quirky, charismatic boy and his friends and family in this humorous adventure. Pencil illustrations add to the story's charm.—Sarah Polace, Cuyahoga Public Library System, OH

School Library Journal

After Jasper John Dooley's beloved Nan goes on vacation without him, he goes pththth. It feels just like when the air leaked out of his beach ball. At school the next day, he writes a story about a snake that gets stepped on a lot. The story is so long that it needs staples, but he accidentally staples it to his stomach. That eventually somehow necessitates a full 28 Band-Aids, since it just keeps feeling like the air is escaping from his sad body, possibly through the staple holes. Jasper and best friend Ori, who is given to prefacing his statements with, "The thing is..." (a phrase that neatly captures his amiable take on the world), try to build a cruise ship out of leftover lumber, not altogether a success. Ori gets a bit bossy. A final trial comes when Jasper gets to bring home the class hamster for the weekend but accidentally loses it in his house. As in Jasper's first outing (Star of the Week, 2012), nothing truly compelling happens, but the concerns of this early grade schooler are so aptly, charmingly and amusingly depicted that it's impossible not to be both captivated and compelled. Clanton's simple black-and-white illustrations feature skinny bodies, oversized heads--and lots of smiles. Early chapter book or read-aloud, this effort will leave its audience with lots of smiles, too. (Fiction. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews