Awards

• Winner of South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award (Children's) 1986

Overview

A backlist gem from a Newbery-winning author! Cracker Jackson has a problem. A big, serious, adult problem. When he receives an anonymous note in the mail, he finds out that his old babysitter, Alma, is in danger. Cracker's the only one who can help her. But what can an eleven-year-old do in a situation that most adults couldn't cope with? Cracker will do anything to protect his beloved Alma. But the situation is already moving beyond his control... An ALA Notable Book Winner of the Parents' Choice Award An IRA-CBC Children's Choice

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9780140318814

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Reviews

A funny children's story dealing with wife abuse doesn't sound promising, but Byars pulls if off with her understanding light touch. She assigns the problem a manageable distance by making the abused wife not Jackson's mother, who's divorced, but his beloved former sitter Alma, a simple soul devoted to Jackson, her own baby Nicole (named for a soap-opera character), her extensive collection of Barbie dolls, and shopping. Jackson's growing concern over Alma's bruises and black eye is all the more poignant for his mother's dismissal of his fears, and for Alma's avoidance of Jackson for fear that her husband will carry out his threat to attack the boy as well. The humor, which never belittles Alma's troubles, is sometimes slipped in as anecdotes about Jackson's pal Goat or his incorrigible cutup father. Sometimes the funny scenes are more central, as when an anxious Jackson and an excited Goat, 11-year-olds sitting on pillows for height, manage to drive Jackson's mother's car to take Alma to a battered-wives' shelter in a nearby town. That time, Alma changes her mind en route; but later, when she and the baby are both hurt badly, Jackson's mother steps in and gets her to the shelter. A plot outline of Cracker Jackson might suggest a banal gloss on a trendy problem; but Byars gives Jackson's part in the drama an affecting cast of feeling - never deep or disturbing, but never goopy either, and always within an 11-year-old boy's emotional framework. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Betsy Byars has written over sixty books for young people. Her first published in 1962 and since then she has published regularly. Her books have been translated into nineteen languages and she gets thousands of letters from readers in the United States and from all over the world. She has won many awards. Among them are the Newbery Medal in 1971 for her novel The Summer of the Swans, the American Book Award in 1981 for The Night Swimmers, The Edgar (for the best mystery for young people) in 1992 for Wanted...Mud Blossom and the Regina Medal by the Catholic Library Association for the body of her work. She especially values her many state awards which were voted on by the readers of the state. Betsy attended public schools in North Carolina and graduated from Queens College in Charlotte, NC with a major in English. She began her writing career five years after her graduation by publishing short magazine articles. As she began to read to her children, her interest in writing for young people began. Betsy lives with her husband Ed on an air strip in South Carolina. They are both pilots, and the bottom floor of their house is a hangar so they can taxi out and take off, almost from their front yard. The top floor of the house? Betsy's studio!

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