Jake has lived with his mother and her abusive boyfriend for most of his life. As the abuse gets worse, Jake starts to imagine a special tower where he, his mother, and his real father would live. One night, when the abuse gets out of hand, Jake's mother packs their bags and takes them to a most unexpected place.

Jake's Tower shows a family in crisis and the desperation that causes people to make difficult choices. The characters of Jake and his mother are fairly well developed as we feel the pain and anxiety they both go through in order to change the pattern of abuse in their lives. Other characters in the story are less well developed, leaving a bit of a whole in the story, but overall, Jake's Tower is a realistic rendition of living life in the midst of abuse. ( )

Jake's Tower is a wonderful book about a boy who experienced a lot of difficulties in life at such a very young age. It exceptionally shows the feelings of a boy who does not lose hope in dreaming of his father, whom he has never met, and a tower where he wishes to live with his parents reunited. An amazingly touching book I was very much able to relate to. ( )