Crenshaw

Applegate, K. (2015) Crenshaw. New York: Feiwel and Friends.

Jackson's family is in trouble. His dad has MS and cannot work. His mother has lost her job as a part time music teacher and is now waiting tables to make money. They can't pay the rent and are being evicted. And suddenly Jackson's imaginary friend, a giant cat named Crenshaw is back! As Jackson faces homelessness again (as we learn through a flashback), Crenshaw is there to help him through it and to find his voice to confront his parents about his feelings.

This book had been making the rounds in my classroom. I gave a copy to a student as a gift, and she has shared it with most of my class. Half of my class lives in a very nice subdivision. The other half lives in government subsidized housing. It was interesting to see reactions and hear them talk about the book. Several focused on Crenshaw and how great it would be to have an imaginary friend or talked about their imaginary friends. Others talked about how they understood how Jackson feels. How they get food from Helping Hands or waiting for mom to get a job so that they could get shoes at Goodwill is what connected them to the book. I think it opened the eyes of my more fortunate students; that not everyone has what they have and life can change in a blink.