Jake’s Tower

Elizabeth Laird's Jake's Tower is a tough, tender story for 11 year olds about a boy who builds himself a safe place inside his head.

What happens

Jake has found a secret den between two concrete blocks above the railway line. It's where he goes to think. What he thinks about most is his dream house, a tall tower with a moat and a drawbridge and a lift that only works for him. Later it grows into an island, with silver and golden apple trees and a room for the dad he's never met.

He needs somewhere safe, because home isn't. His mum's boyfriend, Steve, hits him, and Jake has learnt to read Steve's moods the way other kids read the weather. Then Jake overhears that his mum is expecting a baby, and the thought of a little brother or sister in that flat frightens him more than anything.

It's told in Jake's own voice, and it's hard going in places precisely because he's so matter-of-fact. He knows exactly how a bruise changes colour. He keeps a fluffy toy duck from his dad hidden at the back of a drawer. And yet there are moments that are properly funny (a chimpanzee at the zoo gets his own back on Steve in the most spectacular way).

Kieran, a boy from another class, turns out to be just the friend Jake needs. He notices things, and he's got the kind of laugh that warms you up.

This is one to read about before you hand it over. Steve beats Jake on the page, and we learn he once broke Jake's arm. Jake's guinea pig dies after Steve throws her cage out of the door. His mum shouts that she doesn't want the baby. At his lowest point Jake stands by the railway line meaning to step in front of a train (he steps back). There's some swearing too.

For a child who has lived with anything like this, or who is very sensitive to cruelty, it could be too much. For a reader who can take it, it's a really honest book about how a child copes, and there's real hope in it too.

What to read next

Another Elizabeth Laird to try next is Red Sky in the Morning, which is also about a new baby arriving, told by the eldest child. Anna has been rehearsing the night her brother is born for months, and she's quite sure she'll be the one in charge.