Get A Little Lost, Tia (Revised 2007 Edition)
by
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1
The alarm started to ring. A hand shot out from the blankets to cut it short. Morning was hitting Jason Hilliard.
“Uhhh…” The groan came from deep in the blankets. One long leg dropped over the side of the bed like a promise. Then a head appeared, slowly. I was dreaming, Jason thought. Dad was still alive. Mom stayed home in the mornings. I had only me to worry about.
He lifted his head, shook it to clear it, and then let it fall back on the pillow. No luck, Jason, it’s real. Tia’s still thirteen, and it’s still your problem to get her off to school.
The idea of getting someone else off to school was like a sick joke. Jason had his hands full each morning just getting his own day under way.
Slowly, still not fully awake, he pulled himself to his feet, picked up the pile of clothes he had laid out the night before, and groped his way to the bathroom.
Ten minutes later, he moved mechanically toward the kitchen. Food was his first need of the day. Eat first, talk later.
Jason paused at Tia’s door. Look at that, he marveled. Here I can hardly speak at all, and she’s been on the phone all night! When I went to bed she and Sophie were going strong. Here it is morning, and they’re still at it. He leaned against the doorframe and studied his sister. How does she do it?
“Hey,” he interrupted. Tia looked up questioningly, the receiver still to her ear. “Let me see you straighten out your right arm.”
“Hold it, Sophie—hang on,” Tia said into the phone. She shifted it to her left hand and stretched out her right arm to show him. “What for, Jason?”
“Whew, that’s a relief,” he replied. “It still moves. I was afraid it might be frozen into a telephone-holding position.” Jason ducked as a pillow flew past him and landed in the hall.
The phone conversation went on without missing a beat. “No, he’s not cute, Sophie. How can a seventeen-year-old brother be cute?”
Jason shuffled on into the kitchen. What this house needs, he decided, is a phone with a built-in control system. A recording would announce: ‘I’m sorry, in ten seconds this telephone will self-destruct. If you are still talking…too bad.’
Chuckling, he sat down with his cereal and milk. A note was propped against the sugar bowl.
Jason and Tia,
The boss is sending me to Woodside today. At
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Book Details
About the Book
Seventeen-year-old Jason Hilliard plays a dual role since his father's death and his mother's return to work. Along with handling his own problems as a teenager, he also must deal with the roller-coaster emotions of his thirteen-year-old sister, Tia. Jason is attracted to Celia Miramontes, a seventeen-year-old with close family ties in the Latin community. With mixed feelings, Jason sees Celia taking time she otherwise would spend with him to help his little sister through a series of problems. Will it always be the two of us and Tia, he wonders. Couldn’t she just get a little lost now and then? But when Tia actually does get lost in the mountains, while on a picnic with Celia’s family, Jason moans, "That wasn't what I meant when I said to get a little lost, Tia!"
This is a smoothly written, entertaining novel of family life and the gentle blossoming of first love.
-School Library Journal
This is an easy-to-read school story which has sprightly, up-to-the-minute conversation carrying it briskly along. With his widowed mother now working, Jason has had to take on the additional responsibility of his thirteen-year-old sister, Tia. Problems with Tia erupt regularly, as Jason tries to cope with her as well as with his own maturing and his first real girl friend. Positive family relationships are portrayed.
-Children’s Book Review Service, Inc.
Jason, an exasperated but loyal brother, and his generous and understanding girl friend join forces to help an immature younger sister grow up. Still Jason often wishes Celia would pay less attention to his sister and more to him. Tia, in his view, should “get a little lost.” When she does, Jason is heartsick. This is an amusing story, especially for sorely tried older siblings.
-The Bookfinder
About the Author
Phyllis Anderson Wood, winner of the Church and Synagogue Library Association's award for "significant contribution to children's literature," is the author of thirteen young adult novels, which have been popular since 1971 in schools and libraries throughout the
These novels were written during Mrs. Wood's years of teaching in the
Altogether, Mrs. Wood taught for thirty years in
More information can be found on her website, www.phyllisandersonwood.com.