Winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award and the IODE Violet Downey
Book Award
For young Jack, life is tough at the Opportunities School for Orphans.
But Jack is good at staying out of trouble. He has skipped over trouble,
danced around trouble, slid under trouble, melted away from trouble,
talked his way out of trouble and slipped between two close troubles
like a cat through a picket fence.
When Jack turns twelve, he is given the biggest opportunity of all, but
suddenly his life is nothing but trouble. Still, he is a clever and
resilient boy, and eventually he makes his way into the big world. Jack
is rich in ideas, and soon he finds there is a place for an enterprising
boy who has whims, concepts, plans, opinions, impressions, notions and
fancies to spare.
In the tradition of Natalie Babbitt, Sarah Ellis brings her quirky sense
of humor and imagination to bear in this witty, warm fable. Bruno
St-Aubin's evocative black-and-white illustrations capture perfectly the
dreadful Schoolmaster Bane, the crowlike accountant Mr. Ledger, Lou the
skinny bun merchant, and Christabel, the miller's little daughter.