Small as an Elephant is a middle grade realistic fiction novel written by Jennifer Richard Jacobson and originally published in 2011. In addition to writing, Jacobson teaches literacy workshops across the US. She grew up in Maine, which is the inspiration for the setting of many of her stories. Small as an Elephant examines several themes related to unstable attachment, support, and hardship. The novel received more than 10 awards, including the Maine Lupine Award and the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, and was placed on several book lists, including the Horn Book Summer Reading List.

This guide is based on the 2013 Candlewick Press First Paperback Edition.

Plot Summary

Eleven-year-old Jack awakens in his tent at Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island in Maine. He’s completely alone and realizes that his mother has abandoned him. He looks everywhere, but can’t find her anywhere. Hungry, Jack goes to get some hot dogs with the little money he has. When he calls his mom, she doesn’t answer. He goes down to the beach to try to enjoy himself and figure things out. He meets a family and plays with the son and daughter for a while. Then, he lays down on a rock that reminds him of an elephant. He thinks back to when he was little and met an elephant for the first time and felt safe and comfortable. Jack knows that if he tells anyone that his mother left him, he’ll be taken away from her, so he keeps it a secret. He uses his remaining money to buy some meat, cheese, and marshmallows but has no firewood to roast them. When he wakes later, he’s thirsty and goes to get some water. He runs into the mother of the kids he met earlier, and she invites him to a picnic the following day. Jack lies so she doesn’t discover that he’s alone, and he spends the next day swimming and eating. He accidentally swims with his phone in his pocket, ruining it, and suddenly feels lost and hopeless, knowing that his mother can’t reach him. He cries to himself and then tells the family that his mother is sick. This isn’t exactly inaccurate, as Jack’s mother has a mental illness and experiences manic episodes, which Jack often has to quell. Jack doesn’t want the family to know he’s alone, so that night he packs his things and catches a bus to look for his mom.

The bus reaches the end of its route, and Jack gets off at Bar Harbor, a seaside town. He hunkers down in the woods with his sleeping bag and tries to fall asleep, but raccoons rob him during the night. The next morning, he wanders back into town to look for his mother and find something to eat. He collects some cans to redeem for change and stops at a bed and breakfast to ask if they have seen his mother. Jack finds more cans in a nearby recycling bin and ends up with two dollars’ worth. However, the trash bin lid slams down on his pinky, injuring it badly. In the grocery store, Jack picks out some trail mix and water and ices his pinky. He thinks about how no one seems to understand his situation with his mother and how she leaves him only to protect him from her moods. Jack then goes to a bar that he remembers as one of his mother’s favorites, and the men there reveal that she was there two days ago but was heard planning to leave for the Bahamas with a sailor. Jack is distraught to hear that his mother has left him completely alone but is glad to have met Big Jack, who teaches him that “mudo” means “thank you” in Ewe. The bartender puts a splint on Jack’s pinky. Next, Jack goes to a toy store, where he finds a small plastic elephant on a shelf. He knows he can’t afford it, so he puts it into his pocket and runs out of the store. After leaving Bar Harbor, he finds a small farm with fresh vegetables growing. He eats a tomato, but the woman who owns the farm catches him. She can see that Jack needs food, however, and asks him to take some vegetables down to the food pantry for her in exchange for some of his own. Jack agrees to the deal and heads back into town.

Jack goes to the local library to see if he can find anything on social media from his mother and locate the food pantry. He finds nothing but does get a message from his best friend, Nina, who can sense that something’s wrong. Jack lies and tells her that his mother is sick but is nearby, and then he quickly signs off. He finds out how long it would take to walk back home to Boston (about three days) and goes to the food bank to drop off the food. When Jack boards the bus again, he rides it as far as he can and gets off at an RV rest stop. He comes across a lobster shack and finds a truck with a Massachusetts license plate (his home state), so he attempts to stow away in the truck bed but winds up at a nearby cottage instead. He eats leftovers out of the garbage and hears reports of a missing boy in Maine on the television inside. Jack wonders who might have reported him. He falls asleep in the truck bed. Waking up to rain, he walks down the road, holding his elephant in his pocket. Luckily, Jack sees an L. L. Bean department store and sneaks into a changing stall to dry off. He hides until the store closes and spends the night there, eating other people’s food and watching TV. He uses the computer there to confirm that the missing boy on the news is him and learns that his grandmother (Becky’s mother) was the one who reported it. Early the next morning, Jack steals a bike and helmet and makes his way down the road.

Jack struggles to ride down several steep hills and across bridges, takes a swim in a river, and explores Fort Knox Park for a while. During that time, his bike and backpack are stolen, leaving him with nothing but his elephant. Jack feels more hopeless than ever and completely exhausted, but he continues walking anyway. When he finds a church with people singing inside, Jack slips in and goes up to the balcony to rest. The song being sung, “Morning Has Broken,” reminds Jack of his mother, and he decides to go see Lydia the elephant in York, even though his mother thought it was a horrible idea. He hopes to reset the vacation by doing so. The next day, Jack makes his way to Searsport, where he meets Sylvie, an eighth-grader who recognizes him as the missing boy. Jack tries to escape her, but she follows him, and they end up locked in the bookstore vault together. Jack urges Sylvie to help him escape, which she’s reluctant to do at first, but she comes through in the end.

Jack sits by the seawall and then hides in someone’s toolshed for a few hours. He starts walking again at night and is found by Sylvie’s cousin Wyatt, who convinces him to get in his van. They drive for a while as Wyatt asks questions about Jack and his grandmother’s financial situation. When they reach a gas station, Jack asks for some money to eat, and while in the washroom he overhears Wyatt reporting him. Jack tries to hide by sitting in a nearby dumpster and watches as two police officers arrive to interview Wyatt and the gas station attendants. The next day, Jack is found by a police officer but outruns him and hides in a pharmacy. Although he escapes, he’s caught moments later by Big Jack, who only wants to help Jack understand the situation. Big Jack promises to take Jack to see Lydia the elephant if Jack calls the police when they arrive in York. When they reach the animal park, Jack runs toward Lydia, thrilled to see her. He doesn’t expect to see his grandmother sitting there, but Big Jack convinces him that his grandmother only wants to help him. Jack embraces his grandmother and they make a plan to live together while his mother gets the help she needs. Jack has the opportunity to talk to Lydia and stare into her eyes, and she pats and strokes his face. Before leaving with his grandmother, Jack blows into Lydia’s trunk so that she’ll never forget him. He gives the plastic elephant to Big Jack, naming it Mudo and asking Big Jack to give it to Sylvie. Jack is grateful to everyone who helped him survive this experience.