The Jacob Ladder

by Gerald Hausman, Uton Hinds (With)

Overview

Twelve-year-old Tall T's life has just turned upside down. His father suddenly leaves the family after drinking a bowl of bewitched soup given him by the obeah woman who lives next door. With his father no longer with them, Tall T must be head of the house and help his mother take care of his five brothers and sisters. But earning money isn't easy in a small Jamaican town. How can Tall T go to school and earn money at the same time? His mother tells him he must be like Jacob in the Bible -- Jacob who dreamed of miracles -- and Tall will need a miracle if he is to help his family survive. Luckily for him, miracles can come in unexpected forms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617201974
Publisher:	Irie Books
Publication date:	03/25/2011
Pages:	116
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.28(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

Editorial Reviews

A fictionalized version of Hinds's childhood, he and Hausman have written a prose poem of a book that tells the story of a poor Jamaican boy who has to grow up real fast when his father suddenly abandons the family. Though he's only 12, protagonist Tall T is the dependable one in a family of six children, the one Iya, his mother, counts on, the one "who's expected to do more than anyone else." The story is simple—after his father's desertion, Tall T labors to continue learning, studying at the library because the school won't let a boy with such shabby clothing attend, and working at whatever odd jobs he can find to help put food on the table. In the course of the novel he struggles to come to terms with his ambivalent feelings about his father, a "rough, rough man" who has become a stranger to the family, "a stranger whom we have known all of our lives." Still, Tall T is proud when his father singles him out, offering him the honor of participating as the "devil's treasurer," the person responsible for gathering the coins the townsfolk throw at the dancers during the annual Jonkonnu ceremony. The language from the distinctive Jamaican dialect—"me no thief you," to the vivid descriptions, "He's fringed and fabulous . . . ablaze with tiny round mirrors, winking in the sun," is textured and luxuriant. Pulsating with exotic color, the story Hausman and Hinds have created is vibrant and heart-warming. (Fiction. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews