Skip to main content

Review: The Free State of Jax

Image
By

 




Free State of Jax 
By Jennifer A. Nielsen 
New York: Scholastic Press, 2025. Fiction. 339 pgs. 

Jax is a twelve-year-old that lives in Walkonby, Kansas. He dreads living with his aunt and uncle (and his five cousins) who are all bullies. On his birthday, Jax decides to do something about it. He builds a raft and moves onto a lake next door on neighbor Mr. O’Keefe’s property. There Jax declares his independence and creates The Free State of Jax (his own micronation where he is the president and nobody can bully him any longer). While trying to keep away from his obnoxious family, Jax discovers a mystery surrounding Mr. O’Keefe. Now Jax has to try to decide what is more important—his new-found independence or helping the person who let him declare sovereignty over his land. 

Jax is a clever boy. In fact, many times the grownup characters that are interacting with him describe Jax like a 30-year-old lawyer instead of just a kid. Also, Jax takes matters into his own hands and builds a lot of healthy relationships along the way. Readers who wish they could be in charge of themselves or those who love a mystery will thoroughly enjoy reading about Jax and his clever plan to escape a bad situation. Also, what kid doesn’t dream of being totally in charge and having their own place with their own rules? This is a great look into what could happen if that dream were a reality.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Fowl Play

By
  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Kareem Between

By
  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...
Post a Comment
Read more