about the book
When nineteen-year-old Gage and his eleven-year-old sister, Ari, lost their mother four years ago, her dying wish was that they stay together always, and that Ari attend a special school for Gifted and Talented Children.
Now, four years later, Gage has had it with their nosy, bossy guardian, Janna. He runs away; but not forgetting his mother’s wishes, Gage takes Ari with him to start a new life for himself and his little sister. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a job, and they have no apartment to live in. For months the brother-sister duo couch-surfs, spends nights in the local shelter, and even sleeps in Gage’s girlfriend’s car on the chilly, Maine nights.
Soon enough, Ari’s grades start to slip, and her mother’s dream for her to attend a Gifted and Talented middle school seems to be an impossible idea. She can’t leave Gage, though…
What choice will Ari make? Will she be forced to break one or more of the promises made to her dying mother?
about the author
Jennifer Richard Jacobson comes from a long line of educators, so it’s not surprising that she became a dedicated teacher. What she didn’t realize, growing up in New Hampshire, is that she was going to be an award-winning author. Perhaps taking home first place in an essay contest in high school should have given her a clue.
Jennifer found her love of children’s book in a kid’s lit class at Lesley College and tinkered with writing while she taught classes and worked as an administrator in elementary schools. After earning her Master’s degree from Harvard in education, she went back into the classroom to teach first grade. She told her students that year that she was going to teach them everything she knew about writing and in return, they would help her become a better writer. The manuscript she finished that year will never be published but was helpful.
She continued to write articles, books for parents and teachers, and beginning readers. After taking on the challenge of reviewing 400 books, she finally felt ready to write her first novel A Net of Stars. Remember the kids from that first grade class? They came to her first book signing. They were seniors in high school!
One day, Jennifer began to wonder what she would do if she was homeless. It inspired her book Paper Things. Books with difficult topics like mental illness or homelessness provide kids in like situations with the knowledge they are not alone and that others have gone through these rough experiences and survived, even flourished. It offers them hope. More than anything, Paper Things is about hope! In the book, Ari’s hope is represented by the pennies she collects off the city streets and the wishplanes she folds.
Jennifer makes her home in Cumberland, Maine in a little cozy cottage, built in 1802.
Sources:
Author website
Author interview : Sweet on Books
Author page : Simon & Schuster
Author video interview about Paper Things
Author essay: Hudson Booksellers
Book Trailer: Paper Things
Also by Jennifer Richard Jacobson:
Small as an Elephant. Candlewick Press. 2011.
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Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
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