Crenshaw

Applegate, K. (2015). Crenshaw. New York: Feiwel & Friends.

Crenshaw is a touching story about a boy named Jackson and his family. It seems whenever Jackson’s family is going through tough times, Jackson’s “imaginary friend” Crenshaw appears. Jackson’s parents are having financial problems to the point where they have to live out of their minivan and they don’t have money for food. Jackson learns that his “imaginary friend” is there to help. The lesson we learn is: “You need to tell the truth, my friend….To the person who matters most of all.”

Evaluative Criteria: Theme and Character

Theme:  A theme can be seen in this book is that of being homeless. We read about the games that Jackson and his sister Robin played when they were hungry “cereal ball”. Some readers can relate to this theme, there are many families dealing with finding a place to live and finding to food to eat. The mature readers can relate to Jackson’s parents as they work very hard to make ends meet. Parents today are in the same boat. If we never stop trying things will turn out ok.

Character: We have Crenshaw whose Jackson’s imaginary friend, who helps Jackson deal with the problems he is facing. He also can be seen as a therapist when he tries to explain to Jackson why there are such things as imaginary friends. We have Robin his sister who he tries to protect and tries to make things look like they are not as bad as they are. We also have his parents who really hard to try to make ends meet for their children. The readers can connect to at least one character in the book at one time or another in their lives.