I am not my illness. "Girl with Anxiety," "Trauma of the Week" -- no. I hate stuff like that. Everyone, everyone has their issue. But the one thing my illness did make me realize is how necessary it is to ignore the dangers of living in order to live. And how much trouble you can get into if you can't.
Jade DeLuna is too young to die. She knows this, and yet she can't quite believe it, especially when the terrifying thoughts, loss of breath, and dizzy feelings come. Since being diagnosed with Panic Disorder, she's trying her best to stay calm, and visiting the elephants at the nearby zoo seems to help. That's why Jade keeps the live zoo webcam on in her room, and that's where she first sees the boy in the red jacket. A boy who stops to watch the elephants. A boy carrying a baby.
His name is Sebastian, and he is raising his son alone. Jade is drawn into Sebastian's cozy life with his son and his activist grandmother on their Seattle houseboat, and before she knows it, she's in love. With this boy who has lived through harder times than anyone she knows. This boy with a past.
Jade knows the situation is beyond complicated, but she hasn't felt this safe in a long time. She owes it all to Sebastian, her boy with the great heart. Her boy who is hiding a terrible secret. A secret that will force Jade to decide between what is right, and what feels right.
Master storyteller Deb Caletti has once again created characters so real, you will be breathless with anticipation as their riveting story unfolds.
First of all, a confession. I am a literary addict. I read endlessly, voraciously. In lieu of a book, I will read cereal boxes (Cap'N Crunch breakfast jokes, Special K Heart Smart facts), shampoo bottles, pamphlets in doctors' offices about kidney stones and allergies (neither of which I have), and even those self exam charts with the little arrows going around in circles. My books are multiplying, becoming furniture themselves - end tables, nightstands. On one wall, I have a bookshelf, minus the shelf. I get restless, even sad, when I leave a fictional world I love and am not yet immersed in another. The highest compliment I've gotten about one of my books was from a reader who said she read slower as she approached its end, rationed out the remaining pages because she couldn't bear for it to be finished. Oh, joy. I knew just what she meant.
I was happily hooked at a young age. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and was one of those quiet kids carting home a stack of books. Was? Still am. My mother says there were several years where they never saw me; they just shoved reading material and food under my door (not true, but pretty close). My parents said I'd mess up my eyes reading at night in the back of the car. They were probably right.
Writing, too, was part of my life since I was six or seven. I would get an idea, then bolt off to write it down. A hippie teacher of mine gave encouragement. "Groovy," he'd scrawl, and I had a sense I was on to something. After we moved to the Seattle area when I was twelve, I continued writing - short stories, bad poetry, and later, lyrics.
Being a writer was the only thing I ever wanted to be, but I didn't have the courage to study creative writing in college. I pictured rooms full of people wearing berets and dressed in all black, talking about Turgenev, which sounded a lot like the noise that escaped my throat whenever I was in one of those courses where they asked you to read your work aloud. I worried I wouldn't have the talent, since I didn't own a beret and never wanted one. So I studied journalism. I worked on the radio station, reading the news. What I learned more than anything was that I wasn't a journalist. I earned my B.A. degree from the University of Washington, got married, won the Nobel prize (just seeing if you were still awake) and did PR work. I got serious about fiction writing after my children were born. I didn't want to be one of those people who talked about their dream but never did anything about it. That seemed sad. I worried I would end up sitting alone at the counter at Denny's eating pie and smoking cigarettes, and I've never even smoked. So I made a decision. I would write and keep writing, at least until I was published. No giving up, no going back. I would have the determination and persistence of a dog with a knotted sock.
I read everything on the craft, studied, took notes, wrote and wrote, until finally, finally my fifth book, QUEEN Of EVERYTHING, was published. I would say I'm self-taught, but it isn't true - all my years as a reader, all of those authors I read, taught me. From Mrs. Piggle Wiggle to Tess of the D'Urbervilles. From Encyclopedia Brown to The World According to Garp. Books are what inspire me to write, and to write better. I believe in their power. Books teach empathy and define our lives and times. Writers are our truth tellers, and I strive for honesty in my writing. I want my readers to recognize their own experiences and to see our shared humanity in my work - our mistakes, our triumphs, our pain, those small moments of rightness. I want my readers to miss my characters when the book is set down. If my reader says, "Oh yes, that's just how it is. I know - that's how I feel, too," then I've done my job. I've given what I can to my fellow addict, and maybe, just maybe, I've added a piece to her nightstand.
This review is from: The Nature of Jade (Hardcover)
Jade doesn't know yet that she wants something more out of life - and that she is about to meet someone that will change her life.
Good student Jade is an overachiever who has developed panic disorder. Sometimes, the medicine she takes makes her antsy at night, so she's taken to watching the online elephant cam from her local zoo. One night, the camera shows her a young boy in a red jacket with a baby boy, and she is inexplicably drawn to them.
Throughout the course of her senior year, Jade finds herself feeling more and more out-of-place with her friends as they discuss their future plans. She's ready for her life to change, but she's not sure how. When she gets a job at the zoo and befriends the elephants and their caretakers, things seem right again.
Then she meets the boy in the red jacket face-to-face. As their relationship grows, secrets are revealed on both sides, and it is that relationship which ultimately gives her the strength to make some extremely difficult choices.
I have never worked with elephants. I never knew a Sebastian. I (thankfully) haven't suffered from panic attacks. But there was something about Jade that mirrored something in me, and that really made me connect with the character.
Deb Caletti's novels are all poignant, well-written, and solid. The Nature of Jade, my favorite of her works, is strong and true. Highly recommended to adults and teens, and placed high on my Best Books of 2007 list.
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This review is from: The Nature of Jade (Hardcover)
"Nature of Jade" is an amazing, captivating book. The characters and plot are unique, and the style of writing is fresh. I love the relationship captured between Jade and elephants- it is truly heartwarming. I would highly recommend this book to animal lovers, or to anyone looking for a good read. You won't be dissapointed!
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Jade has had a hard time living her life ever since she started getting panic attacks. The only thing that helps her stay calm is watching the elephants at the nearby zoo. She watches them from her bedroom on the webcam the zoo has installed, and that's where she first notices Sebastian. Jade watches for him and the baby he carries every day, curious. But when she meets him face to face months later, Jade begins to fall for him. She doesn't tell her parents, who are too preoccupied avoiding each other to notice her love life. She's afraid of what they might think about Sebastian being a teenage father, but for the first time in her life, she starts living without fear and worry. Things with Sebastian aren't simple or conventional, but they're right. But Sebastian is hiding a big secret, one that forces Jade to really decide what's right and what's wrong, and could threaten ruin everything.
The Nature of Jade is a thoughtful, sweet, and romantic novel with some very unique elements that will pull you right in. Jade is a very engaging and lively narrator that many readers will like immediately. She struggles with her anxiety disorder, but she refuses to let it define her or control who she wants to become. She fights it by finding what she's passionate about--caring for the elephants--and she gets involved. Her family is dysfunctional, but she deals with them the best she can, and her precocious little brother provides lots of comic relief. Sebastian and his little boy can't appear enough in this book. He's everything a girl could wish for in a guy, but he's not perfect either. Their romance is sweet, but not uncomplicated and he and Jade work well together. However, this book's main emphasis is on the importance of family and doing what's right, which Jade struggles with. Her journey has a lot of pain and hardship in it, but also a lot of hope and happiness, and readers will appreciate the fact that Caletti keeps this book realistic. The Nature of Jade is a one of a kind book--incisive, funny, real, and full of emotion.
Cover Comments: The cover shown isn't the original one, but I like this one best. It conveys a lot of emotion, and I think it's just so sweet. I love the smile on the girl's face, and how the sky is a bit cloudy. It's perfect.
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