Summer Reading Assignment

Adam B



Home, and Other Big, Fat Lies

By Jill Wolfson



Social Issues: Foster children, foster homes; ecology



The Book



1. The main character in this book is Whitney, also known as Termite. Termite is very daring and fearless, so she is always willing to try anything new. She is also very energetic and hyper, as she is always looking for something to do.

2. At the beginning, Whitney is taken to a foster home by her social worker to Forest Glen, California and this is Whitney’s twelfth foster home, so she learns how to adjust to her foster family’s way of life. In the middle, Whitney begins to learn about the wildlife around her with different trees and animals and she makes friends with other foster kids in her school. At the end, Whitney stands up for the Big Momma, the biggest tree in the forest, and prevents it from getting knocked down by the logging company.

3. I think the author is trying to say that you need to respect the life of every living thing, even if it is a tree or a disgusting animal. We have to work together to protect and preserve the lives of all of God’s creation, no matter what.

The Issues

1. One way Whitney is affected is that she learns that just because she is a foster child does not mean she needs to be treated differently from everyone else. Another way Whitney is affected is that she learns to talk less than she usually does because the area she lives in is very quiet. The last way Whitney is affected is that she now stands up for what is right instead of letting the issue slip away. She tries extremely hard for the right thing to happen.

2. One event in the book is when the logging company finally comes back to Forest Glen and it gives the people of the town more money when before, they relied on foster children for the town’s money. This made the foster children important because they thought they were going to leave the town because the families did not need the money now and that they would go to other foster homes. Also, the logging company was going to knock down the forests with all of the nature, which made ecology important too. The author makes this big issue personal by letting the main character say how she feels about this and to think of different solutions no one else would think about. Another event is when Whitney, along with all of the foster children, gathered around Big Momma to prevent the logging company from knocking it down because all of the other trees come from Big Momma. This event said that foster children did not want to leave their foster homes and to keep the forest, with its unique trees, animals, and insects. The author made this issue immediate and personal by letting each foster kid speak out and stand up for what is right in the forest and in his or her foster family.

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