Minn And Jake

Wong, Janet S. Minn and Jake. Illus. Genevieve Cote. New York: Francis Foster Books, 2003.

While this book seems like the simple story of the tallest girl in class becoming friends with the shortest boy in class, this book deals with a lot of issues for younger readers. The character Jake has just moved to Santa Brunella from Los Angeles. Jake does not exactly fit in right away, and Minn does not even like him at first. Any child who has had to deal with moving can understand Jake's position. This book also talks about the hardships of trying to fit in. The beginning of the book talks about how Minn feels "empty", "odd", and "lonely" because she has just lost her very best friend. The age group that the characters Minn and Jake deal with act the way real children of their age would act. There is also the character of Lola, a gossip queen who can talk the talk but has no actual backbone. There are also the charcters of Vik and Henry, who try to impress everyone by eating worms and following through with a dare to try and prove something. These character's true identities come out in the chapter, Rescue, where Minn tries to save Henry after reportedly falling down into the gulch. Minn is the only actual brave character because she rushes down into the gulch to try and rescue Henry, who was only trying to fool everyone. However, Minn ends up getting stuck and nobody except Jake knows what to do. Jake pulls out his cell phone and calls 911. This scene pretty much puts everyone in their place until the end of the story. Henry and Vik can no longer impress people, and Lola convinces herself that in no way was any of this her fault.

In the end of the story, Jake must move back to Los Angeles for the summer to visit with his sick grandmother. At first Minn is sad because she feels that Jake should understand how she feels and stay with her for the summer. However, Minn realizes that going to visit Jake in Los Angeles is not such a bad option. I think this story really shows a coming of age for Minn's character, because she realizes that you cannot be selfish in a friendship. Jake's character also tries to grow up, by trying to teach his younger brother to catch lizards (so the Jake still doesn't have to!)

One of my favorite parts of this story is when Jake tries to sell the old fish tank to Minn. At first his reasonings are selfish: he is trying to make some money. However, he also knows how badly that Minn loves lizards, and that building a terranium would be a much better way for Minn to watch the lizards. This scene is similar to when Minn doesn't actually want to be Jake's friend, however she feels it is her duty to teach him how to catch lizards so that people won't make fun of him. Both of these scenes display the instictual selfishness we can have as people, yet how we learn to actually be giving in a friendship.