Main Character
Jacob Tyronne DeShawn is a young little boy who has been writing the Governor to beg for pardon for his mother. Jake's mom was sent to prison for possession of drugs which actually belonged to her boyfriend Rodney. Jacob's nickname was Jake- a name he got from his comic book hero "Jakeman". Jake's mom, Shanice Kiera DeShawn got engaged with Rodney when she started to experience some trouble providing for the family's daily needs. She got affianced because her husband had left her a couple of months before Jake was born so she was planning to build a family with Rodney. She thought he might be able to help with the family's finances but instead he brought some trouble and calamity into the family.
Jake has some qualities of Jakeman, like his determination. Since Jake had been writing the Governor, the only letter he replied was the eleventh letter. He returned the original copy of the letter with a comment that -"Get this kid off my back. He must be a nutcase". Jake showed the reply of the letter to his sister, Shoshona Imani DeShawn, and the other kids who went on the trip to the prison. They all made some comments that made Jake feel bad. Despite all these comments, Jake still continued to write the Governor because he was determined to achieve his goal by not quitting because "Jakeman never gives up".
Setting
Since their mom was sentenced to jail three years ago, Jake and Shoshona have been tossed from one foster home to another as if they were on a monopoly game. They've tried to cope with their families but have some problems settling down simply because Shoshona's bossy figure "argues" and Jake "bedwets". Jake tries to survive his problems while his hero, Jakeman enjoys his adventures in Jake's comic book. Most of the story happens on the trip to visit their mom because it seems like a review of the trip. They have to take this trip for hours in the rainy weather storm along other livid kids. The trip some turned out that they have to make their own decisions and work as a group to be able to return to New York safely.
Plot/Mission
Jake and Shoshona get reunited after a couple of years at different foster homes since their mom was sentenced to jail. They are going on a social Christmas trip to visit their mom. Their regular driver is away so they are stuck with "Mr Nothing" who is temperamental. They arrive at the guarded prison after a long boring ride. They meet with their mom whose actions showed that she was getting depressed of her situation. They end their visit sadly and embarked on a journey to return to New York. On their way back, the adults in charge (including the social worker Ms Granite) and some kids develop food poisoning and they soon start to throw up. Shoshona takes control and decides they have to get the sick people to the hospital. At the Medical centre, Ms Granite gives orders buts Mr Nothing decides to ignore them and takes off with the remaining kids. The kids later caught Mr Nothing drinking some alcohol as they continued on the journey. They knew it was wrong to drink and drive so they stopped the driver, tortured him and he later became unconscious as he tried to abandon the kids.
The kids decided to leave him on the grass beside the road and go on with the trip but they soon got lost so they had to spend the night in a forest. They put on a singing show that rocked everyone to sleep. They woke up the next day and met two kids who told they were on their yard and gave them some food. They resumed their journey with Shoshona and Harlan taking shifts at the wheel. They went back for the driver and followed his footsteps and realised that he had found a gang to hang with overnight. The gang thought the children were thieves so they started to shoot at them and the children had to run back to the bus for safety. They gathered some money to get some gas to keep them moving. The cops soon pulled up behind them but they escaped roughly as if they were in a movie. They drove outrageously and stopped at a school bus garage where they refuel, hide and plan their next moves.
Resolution
The kids talked and decided to approach the governor's mom to seek some help. They discussed their problems with the Governor's mother, Mildred , who decides to take action on what her son had done. They sneaked out of her retirement home and meet the governor at the annual Mother's Day Governor's Tournament for Juvenile Diabetes. The kids finally got a chance to express their view to the Governor and Jake got to say that he was not a nutcase. Harlan was about to take his file from the briefcase to show to the Governor when suddenly the Governor's bodyguards thought Harlan wanted to gun the Governor down so they shot at him. Jake became Jakeman as he jumped and saved Harlan by taking the bullet. Jake survived the shot and was quickly hospitalized. Jake became a hero like Jakeman.
Opinion
I didn't like how the story ended in suspense living readers to finish the story from their own imagination. However, I did like how the boys responded to the girls as they were about to go to the bathroom during their night in the forest as Shoshona said "Girls first,then boys. And no peeking"-page 115 and the boys responded by bragging that "they had no reason to peek, they'd seen everything before"-page 116. This event is similar to something that actually happened on a trip with my grade 6 class and the boys gave a related response. Its connection to some real events make it realistic. I like how it emphasized that if kids were left alone, they could actually make their own decisions to stay alive.
