In May I bought a copy of Jump the Cracks by Stacy DeKeyser at the SCBW&I New England “Moments of Change†conference in Fitchburg, MA. Stacy DeKeyser is a writer who has her head in the right place.
The book asks “what would you do?†if you were in Victoria’s shoes and saw a teen mother shut her bruised two-year-old in a train bathroom, then get off the train. Victoria is tired of adults who can’t or won’t be responsible, so she promises the little boy that she will not leave him to the disastrous future she forsees for him. She chugs off with the toddler to who-knows-where with no real plan other than not accepting the status quo. Enter Evil Greedy Guy, the Law, the mysterious ‘Tee’ and the suddenly reappearing teen mom. Stolen money materializes in Victoria’s backpack counterbalancing her honest, ethical mores (if you don’t count the kidnapping part).
Victoria is a thoroughly believable teen who makes a decision she thinks is for the best, then sticks with it through hell and high water. The resolution is feasible and the reader ends up feeling that this toddler is lucky to have been kidnapped. Others like him who don’t have an advocate like Victoria may really fall through the cracks.
