When Lightning Comes in a Jar [Hardcover]

Patricia Polacco (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2002 | Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

It's family reunion time! Trisha and her cousins can hardly wait to see one another again. They can't decide what they like best: the great feast (with zillions of meatloafs and gazillions of Jell-O salads), the softball game, the storytelling . . . the yearly rituals go on and on. But this year, Gramma has a new surprise in store: She promises to teach the grandchildren to catch lightning in a jar. Lightning in a jar! Trisha can't wait to find out what she means. It's a secret she will pass down to her own grandchildren one day, along with the family stories handed down with love through all the generations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Illustrator-author Patricia Polacco returns to Norman Rockwell-era Michigan for another autobiographical meditation, this time on the importance of passing "the lightning of our stories and our heritage into the jars of our children's minds."

A fondly remembered family reunion provides the sweeter-than-sweet backdrop for this picture book, as Polacco recalls how she and her cousins eagerly anticipated her Gramma helping them "catch lightning in a jar." The "lightning," of course, eventually comes thanks to some incarcerated insects, but is warmly preceded by all sorts of metaphorical strikes and flashes: Auntie Bertha's trademark meatloaf cooked with a hard-boiled egg in the middle ("like a giant eye"), watermelon-seed-spitting and croquet games (interrupted by "friendly quarrels about bent hoops, crooked wickets and wanting to take reshots"), and, most importantly, oh-so-many stories about an umbrella-loving rattlesnake, a seven-mile walk to a one-room schoolhouse, and a grandfather who "saved souls as a circuit preacher when he wasn't farming."

Polacco's nostalgic pencil and watercolor illustrations chronicle the day's frolics, all the way up to its buggy climax. She then leaves the Greatest Generation behind for an instructive final act, about a new reunion and "a new crop of children": "I'll send them home with full bellies, tired bones and flickering jars in their laps. Their hearts will be overflowing. Full of lightning, put there by folks who loved them even before they were born." (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly

Polacco (Betty Doll) once again mines her own reminiscences, framing this offering around two family reunions, one long ago, one present day. Roly-poly aunties and Gramma, swathed in housedresses and flowered aprons and bearing "zillions of meatloafs" and "gazillions" of Jell-O salads, and other relatives gather on young Tricia's grandparents' farm for a day of baseball and croquet, bag races and leisurely stories about one-room schoolhouses and seeing "the first-ever flying machine in the state of Michigan!" The children are all measured at the milk shed, where Tricia notes the marks of her grandparents' generation ("Hard to imagine that once they were little just like me"). Although the text-laden narrative begins to bog down here, the tempo quickens as evening falls and it's finally time to catch "lightning in a jar" (fireflies), summoned by Gramma's magic. Fast-forward to a present-day gathering at the author's home, where little has changed. "We'll eat scrumptious Jell-O and meatloaf, play baseball and croquet,... and scrawl new measurements on my milk house doorjamb," while "a new crop of children" awaits the magic of fireflies. The softly shaded watercolor and pencil illustrations brim with nostalgia, underscoring the tender continuity of generations and traditions. Though some readers may liken the experience to meandering through a stranger's photo album, others will gladly accept Polacco's invitation to attend this family reunion, and adults will appreciate the author's warm message of the importance of heritage. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Philomel; 1st edition (June 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399231641
• ISBN-13: 978-0399231643
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,849 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born Patricia Ann Barber in Lansing, Michigan, to parents of Russian and Ukrainian descent on one side and Irish on the other, Patricia Polacco grew up in both California and Michigan. Her school year was spent in Oakland, California, and summers in her beloved Michigan. She describes her family members as marvelous storytellers. "My fondest memories are of sitting around a stove or open fire, eating apples and popping corn while listening to the old ones tell glorious stories about their homeland and the past. We are tenacious traditionalists and sentimentalists.... With each retelling our stories gain a little more Umph!"Studying in the United States and Australia, Patricia Polacco has earned an M.F.A. and a Ph. D. in art history, specializing in Russian and Greek painting, and iconographic history. She is a museum consultant on the restoration of icons. As a participant in many citizen exchange programs for writers and illustrators, Patricia Polacco has traveled extensively in Russia as well as other former Soviet republics. She continues to support programs that encourage Russo-American friendships and understanding. She is also deeply involved in inner-city projects here in the U.S. that promote the peaceful resolution of conflict and encourage art and literacy programs.The mother of a grown son and a daughter, Patricia Polacco currently resides in Michigan, where she has a glorious old farm that was built during the time of Lincoln.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grandmother creates memories for her grandchildren, March 22, 2003

By 

Lynne P. Caldwell (Dadeville, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: When Lightning Comes in a Jar (Hardcover)

The theme of this moving story can be summed up in the last two paragraphs. "I'll send them home with full bellies, tired bones and flickering jars in their laps. Their hearts will be overflowing. Full of lightning, put there by folks who loved them even before they were born. Gramma knew this well.
She also knew that someday they would tell their children about all of us, and of the magic nights when we caught lightning in a jar."
Inspired by another of Polacco's real life memories, she writes about a family reunion, after a forty-one-year gap. Her grandmother organizes all the children, teaching them how to catch fireflies. The children put these fireflies in a jar and then there is magic! Childhood memories are the ones that sustain us through our adult life. And often, we will pass these memories on to our own children and grandchildren. This is a precious book that will leave all readers with a warm fuzzy feeling.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Family Traditions and Heartfelt Memories....., July 25, 2002

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Lightning Comes in a Jar (Hardcover)

"Today is the family reunion! I can hardly wait. My dad's side of the family will come soon. It's been ages since I've seen them all..." And as Trisha anxiously awaits the arrival of all her relatives, she remembers the last family reunion at Gramma's house, so many years ago. First all the wonderful food, including about a zillion meatloafs, each made by an auntie from a different recipe, and a gazillion different Jello salads shaking and shimmering on the table. Then there were the games, baseball, croquet, potato sack races, and watermelon spitting contests. Next, all the kids were carefully measured on the side of the milk shed, and Trisha remembers looking at the marks of her gramma and aunties when they were just girls. And last, out came the old photo albums and stories of walking seven miles to school and seeing "the first-ever flying machine in the state of Michigan." And as the day ended and night fell, "small bursts of starlight puffed up out of the grass", and all the children ran to catch lighning in a jar..... Inspired by her own childhood memories, and "the real-life experience of hosting a large reunion after a forty-one year gap between family gatherings", Patricia Polacco's evocative, heartfelt text is full of imagery and magic as she draws the reader into her large and boisterous family for an enchanting day of fun. But it's her expressive artwork that really brings the story to life, and each two-page, water-color and pencil spread is filled with nostalgic, joyous detail. Perfect for youngsters 4-8, When Lightning Comes In A Jar makes a marvelous read aloud the entire family can share and enjoy together, and is a treasured slice of history told with great insight, wisdom, humor, and love. "I'll send them home with full bellies, tired bones and flickering jars in their laps. Their hearts will be overflowing. Full of lighning, put there by folks who loved them even before they were born. Gramma knew this well. She also knew that someday they would tell their children about all of us, and of the magic nights when we caught lightning in a jar."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Lightning Comes in a Jar, October 12, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: When Lightning Comes in a Jar (Hardcover)

This book is a very good book that I have read in my class. This book is by a very good writer named Patricia Polacco. This book is fiction. The main characters are Trisha,Lydia, Sandy, and Trisha's dads side of the family.

In the beginning of the story Trisha's family is coming for a family reunion. At the party Trisha meets Lydia and Sandy and they eat gazillions of Jell-os and Meatloafs, that are each a differnt kind that represents each of the Aunts cooking. Then after they eat they have their Annual Basball game, croquet, bag races, Watermelon- seed -spitting contests, and rides on grandpa's horse. They also see how tall everybody is. Next the Aunts tell stories about old time photos. they also get a family photo. Then when night falls grandma tells a poem about lightning bugs and the kids catch fireflies. Then everbody waits till next year to see everybody again.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes family reunions and some fiction and Non-fiction. I liked this book because it has a lots of things happening and some of it is Non-fiction and fiction mixed togther.