Ordinary Jack

I dug this one out from the stock of well-loved books from my childhood. I had fond memories of the lead characters as I shared in their adventures and laughed at their mishaps.

Ordinary Jack by Helen Cresswell is not about a normal family. In fact, the best way to describe it would be a family of geniuses, albeit ones who are a tad full of themselves. Throw in the rather average middle child and you get the gist of the story. Jack, the lead character, frets about his lack of talents. Actually, his family does sound like a league of super heroes which is enough to give any young boy an inferiority complex. The story follows Jack's attempts to boost his skills whereby he ends up devising a cunning plan with his equally mundane uncle. The rest is a muddle of misadventures that will make you laugh.

There were a few reasons why I still like this book. It is quite refreshing to see that romance or non-stop action is not the prevailing theme of the story. Unfortunately, quite a few modern stories revolve their tales around these themes, targeting an audience who are bit young to understand them. On that note, I also liked the portrayal of the family. True enough, they were dysfunctional and eccentric but they were not nasty or abusive. Depicting anti-heroes in an ambiguous light is the norm, at least in certain parts of the media. Thereby, it was a relief to rediscover something more light-hearted and upbeat in the young adult category. Well, it is for these very reasons that I would nudge the young ones in my family towards the book.