This Journal Belongs to Ratchet Read online

  Copyright © 2013 by Nancy J. Cavanaugh

  Cover and internal design © 2013 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

  Cover design by Becky Terhune

  Cover image © saw/iStockphoto

  Cover image © hudiemm/iStockphoto

  Internal Illustrations by Jillian Rahn

  Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.

  P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the publisher.

  Contents

  Front Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Ratchet's Homeschool Language Arts Journal

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Back Cover

  To Ron,

  my best friend and biggest fan.

  To Chaylee,

  my gift straight from God.

  And to my parents

  for a lifetime of love and support.

  Homeschool Language Arts Journal

  Name: Ratchet

  Age: 11

  Assignment:

  Choose writing exercises from Write From Your Life, (Homeschool Language Arts, Edition 5).

  Record your writing in a spiral notebook.

  Include a variety of writing formats.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Poetry

  Writing Format—FREE VERSE POETRY: Poetry that does not require regular rhythm or a rhyme scheme.

  If only getting a new life

  Were as easy as getting

  A new notebook.

  But it’s not.

  Couldn’t face another year

  Writing on those

  Long,

  Yellow

  Legal

  Pads.

  Dad found them at a garage sale.

  They smelled like wet dog.

  I bought this notebook

  With clean white pages

  Because this year I need

  White pages.

  This year I need

  A cardboard cover

  In cool colors.

  This year I need

  Something new to write on

  And to happen.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Write about your life.

  Writing Format—FREEWRITING: Writing openly and freely on any topic.

  Everything in my life is old and recycled.

  *The kitchen table and chairs—Salvation Army.

  *Living room furniture—AMVETS.

  *TV—Motel 8’s going out of business giveaway.

  Even worse, I look like I belong in a museum of what not to wear with my Goodwill store clothes.

  Dad’s motto: “If the Good Lord wanted us to throw everything away, he would’ve put a Dumpster right outside the Garden of Eden.”

  I want to say, “Not likely, Dad”; but I don’t argue with him. Especially when he’s talking about the Good Lord.

  Even so, I wish we’d lose all this junk so we could start over. Because it’s hard to look good in faded T-shirts that are too big. Jean shorts that are out of style. And my blond hair with no style at all thanks to coupons at Super Snips.

  Today could be a day to start over. It’s the first day of school for all the kids in the neighborhood. But not for me. I’m homeschooled. That means nothing new.

  *No new book bag.

  *No new clothes.

  *No new shoes.

  *No friends—new or old.

  Just Dad and me and a bunch of smelly old textbooks from the library book sale. And a garage full of broken-down cars that need fixing.

  So I sit at the chipped and dented kitchen table doing my assignments. Wishing I were in a real classroom. With real classmates. And a real teacher.

  A teacher who says, “Good morning,” and smiles.

  A teacher who reads my assignments and writes “Great job!” and “Way to go!” on my papers with glitter pens and funky colored markers.

  Dad just glances at my work without really reading it. I know he doesn’t really read it because one time for a social studies paper I wrote, “Abraham Lincoln’s nose is bigger than his hat,” two hundred times. Dad put a check mark at the top of the paper and wrote, “Keep the engine running!”

  It was proof that Dad did not really read my work and even more proof that Dad is really out there somewhere on some automotive planet all his own because who would write, “Keep the engine running!” on top of a paper about Abraham Lincoln?

  As long as I do my homeschool work, Dad thinks he’s being a great teacher.

  Dad’s out in the garage yelling, “Ratchet!”

  I don’t think he’s ever called me by my real name, Rachel. At least not since I can remember. Says I’ve always reminded him of a ratchet the way my help makes all his jobs easier.

  I’ve been fixing cars with him since I was six.

  Dad yells again, “I could use a hand out here!”

  So I’ll put down my pencil, even though I hate to because it’s new. It’s real wood. (Not the fake plastic kind.) Purple sparkles. A super sharp point. And a perfect eraser. But I’ll put it down anyway and go out to the garage and hand Dad tools for the rest of the afternoon.

  What would I rather be doing? Getting off a real school bus with some real school friends after a real day of school.

  What will I be doing? Maybe a brake job or a transmission flush or a fan belt replacement. Hopefully not another oil change. My hands are finally almost clean from the one we did last week.

  None of the things an ordinary eleven-year-old girl should be doing. But when your nickname is Ratchet, you’re not an ordinary girl.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Poetry

  Between bites of

  Macaroni and cheese,

  Dad talks

  About

  Torque wrenches and trees,

  About

  Oil rings and the ozone layer,

  About

  Gaskets and global warming.

  I scrape the bottom

  Of my bowl

  Wishing for something.

  Hoping for something.

  Waiting for something.

  Something I worry will never come.

  I look at Dad’s

  Crazy, tired eyes

  And wish

  I didn’t wish

  For so much.

  Because I know Dad

  Tries real hard.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Write a descriptive essay about something that is important to you.

  Writing Format—DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY: A factual piece of writing in which you give a clear, detailed picture of a person, place, thing, or event.

  I have a silver chain with a blue stone on it. It’s “my most important thing.” Not because it’s
expensive. (I don’t even know how much it cost.) Not because I love jewelry. (I don’t even wear jewelry. It clashes with my out-of-style clothes. Besides, safety rule number two, right after “Always wear safety glasses when working on cars” is “No jewelry in the shop.”)

  The necklace is important because it was my mom’s. And my mom is dead. This is the only thing I have of hers. She died when I was five. So I don’t remember much about her. But when I hold the blue stone I remember her more. Like the feel of her hair. The smell of her neck. Her smile.

  I have one photo of her. She’s sitting on a rock at the beach. She’s wearing a blue-checkered sundress. And the blue stone is hanging around her neck. The dark blue water and lighter blue sky are behind her. I wonder if this is why my favorite color is blue.

  I touch the stone to my cheek and pretend I’m resting my head on my mom’s arm. The necklace is “my most important thing” because it makes me remember things I never want to forget.

  If I had more things like the silver chain with the blue stone that were Mom’s, I bet I could remember more about her. I bet if I could remember more about her, I could be more like her. I bet if I could be more like her, I could somehow make things change.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Choose a proverb and rewrite it to make it a truth about your own life.

  Writing Format—PROVERB: A simple, yet popularly known and repeated saying, based on a common sense–type truth.

  Unknown Proverb:

  “Like mother, like daughter.”

  Ratchet’s Proverb:

  “Finding out about Mom, means finding out about me.”

  WRITING EXERCISE: Write a problem/solution essay.

  Writing Format—TWO-PART ESSAY: An essay requiring two different types of thinking about a subject.

  My problem is: my life is not normal.

  People say there’s a solution to every problem. I’m not so sure.

  One solution is for me to stop working on cars. But Dad would never get all the cars fixed on time without my help. And we wouldn’t have any money.

  Another solution is for me to go to school, but I’d have a better chance of becoming Miss America than that ever happening. Dad says, “The Good Lord gave me the good sense to know you’re better off learning from me than some half-witted college graduate who doesn’t know a gol’ darn thing about the real world.”

  The Good Lord has given me the good sense to know I’ll never see the inside of a school, but lately, I’ve been thinking, maybe Dad would agree to a class at the rec center. That might give me a chance at making a friend, and that would be a huge step toward normal.

  My last solution is to find out more about Mom so that I can finally become who I’m really supposed to be.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Poetry

  Moms are the ones

  Who make sure of a lot of things.

  Like that their kids

  Wear nice clothes,

  Comb their hair,

  Brush their teeth.

  And Moms teach their kids

  How to fold laundry

  So their clothes aren’t wrinkled,

  How to make scrambled eggs

  Without turning them brown,

  How to make a girl feel like a girl.

  How can a girl feel like a girl

  Without a mom to make her

  Feel that way?

  WRITING EXERCISE: Write a proposal for an upcoming project.

  Writing Format—PROPOSAL: A specific, organized plan for solving a problem or doing a project.

  Subject: Ratchet

  Project Description: Turn my old, recycled, freakish, friendless, homeschooled, motherless life into something new.

  Project Goals:

  1.Make a friend.

  *Use magazine makeover tips to improve my look.

  *Sign up for “Get Charmed” class at the rec center.

  *Cross my fingers and hope to make a friend.

  2.Be more like Mom.

  *Ask Dad questions about Mom.

  *Search for things that are Mom’s to help me remember her.

  *Find things I might have in common with Mom.

  Outcome: To be a girl who fits in—hopefully one with a friend.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Define a vocabulary word with a situational example.

  Writing Format—Situational: A short scene written as an example of something

  Vocabulary Word—Vague: not clear or not definite

  “Dad, you know how you always say people should get involved in their communities?”

  “Yeah,” Dad said as he hunched over the open hood of an SUV.

  “Well, there’s this class at the rec center that I think might help me get involved.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  I didn’t tell him the class was called “Get Charmed” and that the only community I’d hopefully be getting involved in would be a bunch of girls learning about manners and makeovers. I knew that wasn’t really the community Dad was talking about.

  “Yeah, it sounds interesting,” I said.

  Thankfully, Dad was having a hard time with the gasket he was trying to replace, so he didn’t ask for any details.

  “I guess it’s all right,” he said, without even looking up.

  “It costs twenty dollars,” I said, holding my breath.

  “You can take money out of the coffee can in the kitchen.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” I said. (yes!)

  “Now, c’mere and help me stretch this so I can get this doggone thing on.”

  While I helped Dad, I thought about how the rubber gasket wasn’t the only thing I was stretching. $

  WRITING EXERCISE: Poetry

  Writing Format—LIST POETRY: A form of poetry that lists words or phrases.

  Things I’ll Learn in the “Get Charmed” Class

  Latest fashion trends,

  Helpful skin care,

  Plus cool and funky hair tips,

  And

  Important social manners;

  But

  I’m hoping for what’s not listed

  In the rec center brochure.

  A chance

  To make

  A friend.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Use poetry to define attributes of a person close to you.

  Thoughtfulness is

  Dad buying sugar twist doughnuts

  Every Saturday

  Because I like them,

  Even though he doesn’t.

  Kindness is

  Dad pumping up

  My bike tires for me,

  Even though I could do it for myself.

  Goodness is

  Dad getting Disney movies

  From the library

  Even though he only watches documentaries.

  Patience is

  Dad letting me change my first flat tire

  When I was only eight

  All by myself,

  Even though it took me an hour and a half.

  Gentleness is

  Dad staying up all night

  And giving me ice chips

  When I had strep throat,

  Even though he was sick too.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Write dialogue to show a character’s personality.

  Writing Format—DIALOGUE: Words spoken between characters.

  “I think I found it!” I yelled as I felt a few drops on my cheek.

  “Are you sure?” Dad asked.

  He was standing over the engine of an old pickup truck we were working on, and I was underneath it. We were looking for an oil leak.

  I wiped my cheek with a rag.

  “Yeah, I’m sure. This has to be it,” I said. I felt a few more drips. This time on my forehead. “Oh, wait! There must be another leak.”

 
; “A second leak?” Dad asked. “Are you sure?”

  Just then brown liquid poured down on me, covering my safety glasses.

  “Oh, man!” I yelled.

  I couldn’t figure out what was going on until I heard Dad laughing, and then I smelled chocolate.

  “Dad!” I yelled.

  I wiggled out from under the truck and took off my safety glasses, which were dripping with chocolate sauce. I wiped my forehead with my rag.

  “Got ya!” Dad said, laughing some more. “Want some?” he asked, holding up a plastic bottle of chocolate sauce.

  “No thanks. I already had some.”

  Dad tipped his head back and squirted chocolate sauce into his mouth right out of the bottle.

  “You can find the leak yourself,” I said, trying to sound mad.

  “I found the leak this morning before you got up,” Dad explained. “Just thought I’d have a little fun. Sure you don’t want some?” He squeezed another big squirt of sauce into his mouth, then grabbed my rag and flicked me in the arm with it.

  I snatched the chocolate sauce from him and squirted some in my own mouth.

  WRITING EXERCISE: Write a descriptive essay about something you have strong feelings about.

  I HATE my dad’s favorite T-shirt.

  It says, “Is it me or is this place a Festival of Idiots?”

  My dad wears this shirt to every city council meeting. Every meeting is shown on TV, and at every meeting, my dad stands up in this T-shirt and talks.

  So, everyone, and I mean everyone, has seen my dad wearing this shirt. They all think he’s crazy: because of the shirt, because his hair is fuzzy and too long and never combed, but mostly because of how he lectures the city council members.

  He tells them they’re ruining the planet by buying light bulbs that use too much electricity. He tells them they’re scoundrels for letting their sprinklers water the parking lots. He tells them it’s a farce how many trees they waste with all the paper they use. It’s the same thing every time.