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Jake Moon used to love the time he spent with his grandfather, Skelly, but that was before Skelly got Alzheimer's disease. All of a sudden, it's as if Skelly is the kid, and Jake has to be the grown-up. Much of Skelly's care becomes Jake's responsibility, and that doesn't leave much time for a life of his own.
Then, one day Jake rebels, and the unthinkable happens. Has Jake discovered too late how much his grandfather still means to him?
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 4, 2002 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780307583499
- File size: 67471 KB
- Duration: 02:20:33
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- ATOS Level: 4.5
- Lexile® Measure: 680
- Interest Level: 4-8(MG)
- Text Difficulty: 3
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Reviews
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For anyone, watching someone you've loved and admired for years start to change and deteriorate mentally is a heartbreaking experience; for Jake Moon, experiencing it as a young adolescent, it's both confusing and terrifying. With a boyish tone and adolescent intensity, narrator Fred Savage gives voice to all of Jakes's emotions: his embarrassment when some of his friends see his grandfather sitting in the dumpster behind school, the frustration of telling him the same things over and over, the pain when his grandfather doesn't recognize him, the hurt when his grandfather starts yelling at him for nothing, the resentment for what the Alzheimer's has done to his life. It's not until his grandfather disappears for days that Jake learns to accept the situation and understand how it impacts everyone, not just him. W.L.S. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from September 4, 2000
HAs she did in Mick Harte Was Here, Park introduces an uncommonly sympathetic and articulate young narrator who lightly relays a story with tragic underpinnings. Here, eighth-grader Jake Moon recounts his beloved grandfather's diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease and the dramatic changes his illness brings to Jake's life. Since his infancy, Jake and his single mother have lived with big-hearted Skelly, who "had a way of believing in you, that made you want to believe in yourself." Never maudlin, even infusing sturdy humor into some of his sad observations, Jake poignantly describes Skelly's gradual debilitation as Alzheimer's robs him of his memory and brings on a heartbreaking reversal of roles between adult and child. Park subtly and affectingly reveals Jake's growing maturity and acceptance of an awful inevitability. The plot culminates in Jake's eighth-grade graduation, when the boy rushes to his grandfather's side after the old man wanders onto the auditorium stage and starts to cry in his confusion. At one point in the story, Skelly breaks into a huge grin when served his favorite breakfast and Jake comments: "It was one of those moments that can make you smile and break your heart at the same time." Readers will discover many such moments in this memorable novel. Ages 9-12. -
June 3, 2002
PW
gave a starred review to this "memorable" novel narrated by an eighth-grader whose beloved grandfather has Alzheimer's disease. Ages 9-12.
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