Jason's Why

Jason's mom says he is a problem, and puts him in a group home. Now Jason has to live with boys and grown-ups he doesn't know. Jason thinks, Now I'm in a house that isn't my house. I watch their hands and feet. When hands and feet move fast, you're going to get hit. There's a big bubble of mad inside Jason. It makes him yell and throw things. Jason wants to be good and move home again, but the mad bubble just won't go away. Told in first person, Jason's Why relates the story of a nine-year-old boy who has been sent to a treatment centre by his mother because she can't handle him any longer. Jason is afraid that his mother is going to leave him in the home forever. He is afraid of trusting these strange new adults in his life. And, he is worried about how his sister is doing at home without him. Jason begins to realize that the people in the group home are not going to hurt him but care about his welfare, and that the principal in his new school is also a figure he can trust to care for his best interests. The kindness and care he starts to receive allows him to gain the courage to tell these new adults about his fears — despite his concern that his mother will not take him back.