84 pages • 2 hours read
Katherine ApplegateCrenshaw
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 47-52Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 47 Summary
Jackson has trouble sleeping that night, nagged by the question, “Why did things have to be this way?” (223). He recalls his fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Malone, teaching the class about vampire bats. When the bats return to their caves after a night of hunting, they share with the bats who did not find anything to eat. Scientists disagree over whether this means that “bats are altruists,” who share to help other bats, “even if it’s a risk” (224). Jackson notes that “[s]cientists love to disagree about things” (224). Ms. Malone wondered if bats “are better human beings than human beings are” (225).
Chapter 48 Summary
A nightmare wakes Jackson. In tears, he explains to Crenshaw that in his nightmare, he was calling for help but nobody would listen. Crenshaw says he will listen and help. Jackson reveals that he does not want to go with his family or live in the minivan. He is tired of worrying all the time. He decides to ask Marisol if he can stay with her and writes a letter to his parents explaining “the facts”—that he is tired of the uncertainty, hates “living this way,” will stay with Marisol, and may join his parents when they “figure things out” (229, italics in original).
In the envelope with the letter, he includes the $10 he made dog walking and instructions for his parents to pay Safeway $7 for the stolen baby food and Pet Food Express $3 for the stolen dog cookie.
Chapter 49 Summary
As Jackson is finishing his letter, he hears Robin knocking on his door. She is afraid of being in her room alone. Jackson tells her to go to bed, but she says she will wait outside his door. He hesitates briefly then opens the door to find Robin with Spot (her stuffed animal), her pillow, and her favorite book. Jackson crumples up his letter, tosses it aside, and reads the book to Robin until they both fall asleep.
Chapter 50 Summary
When Jackson wakes up, Robin, Aretha, and Crenshaw are asleep on his mattress, and his parents are sitting on the floor with his letter. His father shares two facts with Jackson: “Parents make mistakes,” and they “try not to burden their kids with grown-up problems,” though that is sometimes difficult to achieve (234). Jackson tells him it’s hard to be a kid and not know what is happening. He adds that he does not want to be homeless again. It is not fair; other kids do not have to go hungry and live in their cars. Even as he says it, Jackson knows this is not true; other kids have it worse than he does, but at that moment, he does not care. Crying, he asks his parents why they cannot be like other parents and why it has “to be this way” (234).
His mother tries to hug him, but Jackson will not let her. She apologizes. Jackson sees Crenshaw “watching me carefully” and responds to his mother that he knows she’s sorry, but “that doesn’t change the way things are” (235). His father acknowledges this, and Jackson feels his anger begin to drain away. “It’s okay,” he tells them, but he adds that he wants them to be honest with him in the future. His father shares another fact with Jackson: the man who wanted to buy Tom and Sara’s guitar has a brother who owns a music store and needs an assistant manager. He also has a garage apartment that is free for the next month. His father acknowledges that this is good but not certain. He tells Jackson that life is “messy” and “complicated” (236). While it would be nice if life continually got better, sometimes things go up and down, and people cannot give up when this happens. His mother promises they will “be as honest with [Jackson] as [they] can” in the future (237).
Chapter 51 Summary
At the music store, Jackson and Robin play cerealball while his parents talk to the music store owner. Robin admits that she got the purple jelly beans (from Chapter 4) at her friend Kylie’s birthday party but told Jackson she did not so that he would believe in magic. She tells him she knows now that there is no such thing, and he tells her maybe sometimes there is.
His father gets the job, which is part-time but should help “with everything else” (240). They can stay in the apartment for one month, by which time he hopes they will have another plan. The apartment has one bedroom and is a bit dingy, but it is a roof over their heads for “a family who needed it” (241).
Chapter 52 Summary
An article Jackson read about imaginary friends said they appear in times of stress, and as kids mature, they outgrow “their pretend world” (243). However, Crenshaw told Jackson that “imaginary friends never leave” (243). They remain on call until they are needed again.
His first night in the new apartment, Jackson wakes up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water. Walking into the bathroom, he sees Crenshaw in the shower, making a bubble beard. Tom comes into the bathroom and asks Jackson if he is okay. Jackson hugs him and tells him he loves him, and “that’s a fact” (244). He asks his father if he ever knew someone called Finian. His father gets “a faraway look in his eyes” but does not answer (244). As Jackson leaves the bathroom, he takes another look at Crenshaw, who is doing a handstand. Jackson closes his eyes, waits ten seconds, then opens them again. Crenshaw is still there. Jackson knows there “has to be a logical explanation”—there always is—but he will “enjoy the magic while” he can (245).
Chapters 47-52 Analysis
These chapters follow Jackson from the night after his conversations with Marisol and Crenshaw to the family’s first night in their new apartment. They trace his coming to terms with the precariousness of his family’s circumstances and his lack of control to change it.
Struggling to fall asleep, Jackson recalls learning about the altruistic behavior of vampire bats and the various ways scientists have interpreted this behavior. Significantly, Jackson notes that even scientists disagree because facts do not stand alone; they are interpreted, which leaves room for dissenting conclusions. His memory of his teacher wondering whether bats “are better human beings than human beings are” speaks to the importance of helping others, even when it does not serve oneself (225).
When he finally falls asleep, Jackson has a nightmare that he is calling for help, but no one is listening to him, a reference both to his anxiety about uncertainty and to his feeling isolated within his family. To address the latter, he decides that he will not join his family wherever they go next, not until he knows that they have a plan and can gain a stable foothold. He writes his parents a letter explaining his decision. However, Robin comes to his room, asking for him to read her favorite book to her. For Robin, Jackson and The House on East 88th Street provide comfort, the same way Crenshaw provides comfort to Jackson. He realizes that he cannot abandon his sister, just as Crenshaw has not abandoned him. He reads the book to her until they both fall asleep.
When he wakes up, his parents are in his room, holding his letter. Seeing them as well as Crenshaw, Robin, and Aretha allows Jackson finally to break down and express his anger and disappointment. His father says parents make mistakes and try not to make their problems their children’s problems, but it is not always possible. Jackson reminds him that it is hard not to know what is going on, even admitting that he hated his parents for putting him through that. He sobs, asking why they cannot be like other parents and why things “have to be this way” (234). His mother’s apology and his father being near tears tempts Jackson to do what he has done in the past: comfort his parents by downplaying his own feelings. However, seeing Crenshaw watching him gives Jackson the strength to further articulate his feelings. He knows they are sorry, but that does not change the situation.
The family sits quietly together, the only sound being Crenshaw purring. The emotional release, his parents’ validation of his feelings, and Crenshaw’s soothing presence enable Jackson’s anger to dissipate. He asks his parents to be honest with him, telling them he can handle it. His father reveals that he has job and housing prospects. Neither is a certainty because life is complicated and unpredictable, but they will keep trying. Sara and Tom agree they will be more honest with Jackson, resolving one key source of his anxiety.
The novel ends with Tom getting the job and the family moving into a one-bedroom apartment, which is theirs for a month. Their situation continues to be unstable, as they will have to come up with a long-term plan. There are no magical solutions, but Jackson has learned to accept comfort where it is available, to express his feelings honestly to himself and others, and to hold onto hope and possibility, even when things feel bleak.
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