Room

 

For my summer reading project, I read the book Room. Room is about a little boy named Jack who has just turned 5 and lives with his mom. The story is about he finds out that almost everything he knows about life is wrong.

The story starts out with Jack waking up on his birthday. He's very excited about finally being 5 years old. As the story goes on, you learn Jack's daily routine. It includes screaming out of Skylight, feeding Plant, and watching one show on TV every day. To anyone reading the book, this routine may seem a little weird until you learn more about Jack's life. He's been living in a very small, one room house that he calls Room his entire life, and he's never been outside. Jack and his mom are locked in by a man they call "Old Nick". They live very simple lives and Jack loves it. But his mom doesn't.

Old Nick is a frightening man to Jack. Jack has never actually seen Old Nick because his mom puts him to bed in Wardrobe every night before he comes. Jack's mom, whose name is never really mentioned, was kidnapped by Old Nick about two years before Jack was born. She begins to tell Jack that almost everything he's seen on TV about the outside world is real. At first, Jack thinks his mom is lying, but once he sees snow and an airplane through the small hole on the cork that blocks skylight, he begins to believe that his mother is telling the truth.

Jack’s mom begins to develop a plan. They are going to pretend that Jack is very sick so that Old Nick will take him to the hospital and Jack can escape and get help. Jack doesn’t like the plan but finally agrees. At first, the plan doesn’t work. Old Nick says he won’t do anything about it. As Jack’s mom becomes more desperate, so do her plans. She eventually convinces Jack to pretend he’s dead so that Old Nick will take him away. The plan actually works this time. Jack gets a taste of the freedom he's never had and his mom is released from her seven-year prison.

At first, Jack doesn’t like the outside world, but as he gets more used to it, I believe he will find that it much better than what he had before.