Diamond Willow Award nominee, 2008 Silver Birch Fiction shortlist, 2007 CLA Children's Book of the Year Award 2008 shorlist VOYA's Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers list, 2007 Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award Jake and his sister Shoshona have been under foster care since their single mother was arrested for possession and trafficking three years before. Both have found their own ways to cope: Shoshona has become a bossy mother figure; Jake, who is a budding comic book artist, has created an alter ego named Jakeman. And unbeknownst to his sister, Jake continues his one-man letter-writing campaign to the Governor, pleading for clemency for their mom. Along with an assortment of nervous, angry, and damaged kids, Jake and Shoshona take a community-provided school bus four times a year on the long overnight journey through New York State to visit their mother in jail.
