The Light Jar

by Lisa Thompson

Overview

"Thoughtful and hugely empathetic" (The Guardian).The Light Jar isa compelling mystery that celebrates imagination and the light within.

Nate and his mother are running away. Fleeing from a bad situation at home, they hide out in an abandoned cottage in the middle of a forest. Though it's old and run-down, at least it's a place of their own.Then Nate's mother heads off for groceries and doesn't return. Has she run into trouble, or simply abandoned him? He is left alone and afraid, with the dark — and all his old fears — closing in on him.But comfort can come from the most unexpected of places: like a strange girl trying to solve the mystery of a treasure hunt, and the reappearance of a friend from his past. Will Nate find the bravery he needs to face down his fears, survive on his own, and ultimately illuminate his future? From the author of The Goldfish Boy, comes a captivating story of fear and hope, loneliness and friendship, and finding the light within, even in the darkest of times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338216318
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	658,092
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Lisa Thompson is the author of The Goldfish Boy, The Light Jar, and The Day I Was Erased. She has worked as a radio broadcast assistant, first at the BBC and then for an independent production company making plays and comedy programs. During this time she got to make tea for lots of famous people. She lives in Suffolk, England, with her family. Find her on Twitter at @lthompsonwrites and at lisathompsonauthor.com.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Light Jar:"A thoughtful and hugely empathetic book: a consolation for readers who, for whatever reason, might be feeling a little out of place in the world." — The Guardian"Tense and threaded with mystery... Thompson adeptly draws the storylines into a cohesive whole that rewards readers with a satisfyingly hard-won resolution." — Booklist"This is the kind of book that will matter most to kids facing loss and family disruption themselves, letting them know that imagination is a useful tool for developing courage in difficult times and that sometimes you need to go back in time in order to move forward." — Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books"Carefully and beautifully written, this is a book that will appeal to readers who enjoyed Ann M. Martin's Rain Reign and David Almond's Skellig. A strongly recommended purchase for robust middle-grade collections." — School Library JournalPraise for The Goldfish Boy:* "Thompson strikes the perfect balance, seemingly without compromise, between an issue-driven novel and one with broad, commercial appeal. This empathetic debut is a middle-grade whodunit with a very special heart." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review"A multilayered mystery at once suspenseful and heartrending." — Booklist"The novel successfully weaves Matthew's personal struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder and the search for the missing toddler into a compelling story with a hearty dose of mystery and adventure." — School Library Journal"This book is filled with intriguing characters and tragic, mysterious pasts. Thompson has created a modern teenage tale interwoven with classic literary themes like loss, guilt, neglect, and loneliness. This is a story for everyone, featuring mystery, drama, and enough realism to inspire students to research and understand the complexities of the mind." — School Library Connection"Heart and humour, along with a strong message about the value of family, friends and facing fears... make this assured debut stand out." — Observer"Both a genuine mystery and an emotionally charged examination of fear and loneliness, this is a terrific read with warmly engaging characters." — Daily Mail"This carefully judged, poignant story should help those with OCD feel less alone — and help others to understand the impulses behind painful acts of repetition." — Guardian"A genuinely clever mystery." — Robin Stevens, author of the Murder Most Unladylike series"A great cast of characters and an intriguing mystery — I loved it!" — Ross Welford, author of Time Travelling with a Hamster

From the Publisher

Winter 2018

Gr 4–6—A witty and courageous book. Nate likes puzzles, riddles, and is a connoisseur of "freaky facts." He finds most human relationships ineffable, especially his tenuous connection to his parents. Over the course of one rainy winter night in an abandoned cottage in the countryside, Nate works to negotiate his mother's limits and their shared pain. Failing to protect him from her live-in boyfriend, Gary, Nate's mother attempts to craft a family out of the wreckage of his father's abandonment and Gary's random acts of emotional sadism which include removing all the light fixtures so that their house is perpetually dark and taking her cell phone so she can't contact anyone for help. Meanwhile, Nate finds solace in Sam, an invisible friend; Kitty, a mysterious neighbor; a roving chicken; and the handmade light jar his mother makes for him (a glass container filled with a string of small lights). Carefully and beautifully written, this is a book that will appeal to readers who enjoyed Ann M. Martin's Rain Reign and David Almond's Skellig. VERDICT A strongly recommended purchase for robust middle grade collections.—Alpha DeLap, St. Thomas School, Medina, WA

School Library Journal

2018-09-30

A nearly-12-year-old British boy waits for the return of his missing mother.

Nate's mother wakes him in the night and bundles him into a rental car, saying that they're going on holiday to a cottage where they'd stayed long before. Nate barely remembers the tumbledown place, a gardener's cottage on the outskirts of a large estate, now fallen into ruin, but he's grateful to escape his divorced mother's abusive live-in boyfriend, Gary. But the next afternoon, Nate's mum goes to get groceries and doesn't come back. Nate's only briefly alone—he's soon visited by Sam, his imaginary friend from toddlerhood, and then Kitty, a girl about his age who claims to be the daughter of the estate house's current owner. Kitty brings Nate food and accepts his explanations as to his parents' whereabouts. Meanwhile Sam and Nate have long conversations about the fates of imaginary friends. Told from Nate's point of view, the story is frankly implausible—Nate worries that his mum has returned to Gary but never goes in search of her or does anything to help his own situation, making him feel younger and less resourceful than 12. His relationship with his father is glossed over, and Gary never feels realistically threatening. Nor does the imaginary-friend angle generate much interest. The book adheres to the white default.

The sentence-level writing is good, but the plot doesn't hold. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews