The novel Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings is about a 13-year-old boy named Brady who lives by the Chesapeake Bay. One day a four-year-old boy named Ben was out in the water when his kayak overturned Brady tried to rescue him but failed. Brady later discovered that it was his two friends who drilled holes in the kayak making the turnover. This accident causes Brady and his friends J.T. and Digger to grow up. In the book, growing up means being responsible for duties, being able to accept consequences for actions, and learning to do the right thing even when it is difficult.
J.T had to learn to grow up and take on more responsibility working on his family’s chicken farm when his father was ill in the hospital. Brady had just found out that J.T.’s dad was in the hospital and he realized how much this might affect J.T. Brady says “I could see the pain he had bottled up inside. Because of his dad? The sweat dripping off his face could have been tears for all I knew” (102). Later Brady realizes just how much this is changing J.T. physically and mentally. “It had been about a month since I’d seen J.T., and he didn’t look so great. He needed a haircut, and his eyes were red-rimmed and seemed kind of sunken” (157). This is the first time in J.T.’s life that he had adult responsibility on the farm and he understands that growing up is not all fun and games. J.T. realized that he will have to work hard achieve his goals in life, and now
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In the book Red Kayak the characters J.T., Digger, and Brady all grew up by making mistakes and learning from them. Which is essentially what growing up is learning and growing from experiences and using the lessons that life teaches people to make choices in the future. Decision making usually comes with age and through experiences and all three of the main characters mentally matured throughout the