title: I Will Not Leave You Comfortless: A Memoir
author:  Jeremy Jackson 
description: Gr 9 Up-Jackson recounts the details of his life in rural Missouri in 1984 when he was 10. Readers witness him navigating the changes that came through the loss of a loved one and a family member moving away. Creating a strong sense of place and time with evocative language, he immerses readers in the midst of a torrential thunderstorm. "I could hear the thunder. Muffled, thuddy thunder. And I could hear my quickened heartbeat. This was not good at all, this basementless tornado-bait farmhouse." Jackson writes about each season, whether the family is harvesting and preserving produce or homebound due to a blizzard, with equal descriptiveness. Sadly, the environment is more engaging than the people. One feels detached while reading about Jeremy and his family coping with a terminal illness, and the inability to connect with anyone makes the book tedious at times. The child's nervousness when purchasing earrings for his crush and the subsequent trepidation about giving them to her are believable, just not captivating. Older teens are perhaps the intended audience, given the small font and the reflective nature of the narrative, yet the plodding events, lack of engagement, and Jeremy's age may dissuade them from staying with it.-Hilary Writt, Sullivan University, Lexington, KY(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
zlib_text: ©Copyright, 2019 J.L. Beck & Cassandra Hallman
  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in
  any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical
  methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations
  embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
  Editing by: Ellie Mclove at My Brothers Editor
  Cover Design by: Cover It
  
  Chapter One
  Jessa
  “I’ll call you as soon as the plane lands,” my father assures me. I push up onto my tiptoes and press
  a kiss to his cheek. He doesn’t smile, only nods at my gesture. He’s never been the kind of person
  who wears his emotions on his sleeve, actually he’s the kind of person who shows his emotions, well,
  never. He doesn’t like leaving me all alone in this big house, and I understand why, but I’m tired of
  accompanying him to these galas and events every weekend. I want t