Just Gone
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Mother Anqelique runs a shelter for homeless mothers and their children in a run-down inner-city area, where drug addiction, prostitution and random acts of violence are facts of life. One day, newly orphaned Jamal and his sister Chantay arrive at the shelter, hungry and scared. As Angelique tries to find a new home for them, she develops a fascination with seven-year-old Jamal, who seems to inhabit a world of his own. Jamal tells her fantastic stories of a man named Jacky Wacky, who protects the poor children of the city and punishes the adults who harm them. A God-fearing woman, Angelique doesn't believe his stories at first. But strange things begin to happen whenever Jamal is around, and Mother Angelique is forced to admit that the world may contain stranger truths than her faith can explain.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Worthy and positive, Kowalski's fourth novel in the Rapid Reads series for reluctant readers (after Something Noble) makes up for a scant story with the weary but determined voice of its earnestly captured narrator and its hopeful message for exploited and abused inner-city youths. Mother Angelique, the manager of a downtown homeless shelter in an unnamed city, takes orphans Jamal and Chantay under her sternly loving care. Through Jamal, she learns the urban legend of Jacky Wacky, a supernatural figure who hands out food to children and retribution to those who would harm them. With a straightforward, rigidly linear narrative and an intentional lack of linguistic complexity (appropriate for adult literacy and ESL programs), much of the narrative is simple first-person exposition as Jamal and Chantay grow older and the unflaggingly generous Mother Angelique encounters more stories of Jacky Wacky and his white and black suitcases. While no surprises lie in wait as the book reaches its conclusion, the hopeful message of service and perseverance is well realized.
