Norwin Public Library

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2025

Format:	Book
Author:	Nielsen, Jennifer A., author.
Title:	The free state of Jax / by Jennifer A. Nielsen.
Edition:	First edition.
Publisher, Date:	New York : Scholastic Press, 2025. ©2025
Description:	339 pages ; 22 cm
Summary:	"One boy, one town mystery, and one free state. Jaxon Averett has had some terrifically bad luck. Because only the worst luck in the world can account for the fact that he has to live with his Uncle Clive Grimmitz, Aunt Helga, and their six kids in dead-end Walkonby, Kansas. Life with Jax's cousins isn't easy--they're bullies--and his aunt and uncle can't even remember his name. Which is why, on the night before his twelfth birthday, Jax sneaks over to the neighboring property, floats a raft out into the middle of the hot springs lake, and drops anchor. Jax is now the president and sole citizen of his own micronation, the Free State of Jax. With the help of new friends, a local lawyer, and the property owner, Mr. Owen O'Keefe, Jax's micronation begins to flourish. But the Grimmitzes will do anything to get him back, and they are not above sabotage. On top of that, Jax is quickly embroiled in the mystery of Owen's missing brother--and a lost windfall of the town's money. Investigating puts everything Jax has built at risk, and soon, long-buried family secrets are unearthed. Will Jax lose his only chance at freedom?"-- Page [2] of dust jacket.
Target Audience Note:	Ages 9-12. Scholastic Press. Grades 4-6. Scholastic Press.
Subjects:	Orphans -- Juvenile fiction. Families -- Juvenile fiction. Dysfunctional families -- Juvenile fiction. Family secrets -- Juvenile fiction. Missing persons -- Juvenile fiction. Kansas -- Juvenile fiction.
Genre:	Detective and mystery fiction. Domestic fiction. Novels.
Notes:	Accelerated Reading AR MG 4.8 10 Accelerated Reader Quiz # 556888.
LCCN:	2025007369
ISBN:	9781546166085 1546166084
Other Number:	1472980732
System Availability:	4
Current Holds:	0
# Local items:	1
Control Number:	1206953
Call Number:	[Fic]
Course Reserves:	0
# Local items in:	0
# System items in:	2

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Fiction/Biography Profile

Characters
	Jaxon Averett (Male), Escaped a bad home by founding a country on a raft
Genre
	Fiction
	Mystery
	Adventure
	Coming of age
Topics
	Family
	Freedom
	Secrets
	Friendship
	Rules

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Publishers Weekly Review

After his grandmother's worsening Alzheimer's disease leaves her unable to care for him, middle schooler Jaxon moves to sleepy Walkonby, Kans., to live with his callous aunt Helga and uncle Clive, and their six unpleasant kids. When his attempts to run away prove unsuccessful, Jax instead establishes his own micronation--the Free State of Jax--on a raft in the hot springs pond of prickly and reclusive adult neighbor Owen. Owen, who is rumored to have murdered his own brother, allows Jax to stay under the condition that the youth write a constitution. Thus begins Jax's crash course in developing a new society, which he institutes mostly on the fly: a supportive classmate is made its general, her lawyer mother becomes the attorney general, and local kids comprise its army. Between regular skirmishes with his cousins, Jax works on beautifying Owen's property, all the while wondering if the rumors about him are true. This first foray into contemporary middle grade by Nielsen (One Wrong Step) is somewhat uneven; the over-the-top humor of Jax's family antics is often at odds with the nuanced exploration of personal agency, while the central mystery regarding Owen proves less intriguing than Jax's firsthand civics education. Main characters read as white. Ages 8--12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Aevitas Creative. (Oct.)

Kirkus Review

Feeling powerless and victimized, 12-year-old Jaxon Averett makes a literal bid to put himself on the map by declaring a pond in Walkonby, Kansas, his personal micronation. In this break from her recent string of historical novels, Nielsen demands considerable suspension of disbelief from readers but rewards them with some provocative ideas, a flurry of gleefully rousing hijinks, and a winningly smart, sensitive protagonist. Orphaned at 3 and spurred by the revolting prospect of being formally adopted by Clive and Helga Grimmitz, his uncle and aunt--a couple whose malignancy is matched only by that of most of their six offspring--Jaxon studies up on "eminent domain." He then resolutely declares reclusive neighbor Owen O'Keefe's pond to be the titular country. Asserting independence is one thing, of course; keeping it is quite another. Jax plunges into a quick education in the art of being a head of state--which ranges from negotiating deals with both skeptical and surprisingly sympathetic grown-ups and a dozen eager young applicants for dual citizenship to waging out-and-out war with a bevy of horrid relatives and their smarmy lawyer. Nielsen also threads in multiple mysteries wrapped around missing treasures and family rifts, plus a destructive tornado and even a possible murder. Still, multiple massive contrivances later, the author wrests happy outcomes for all--even the shiftless Grimmitz clan. The leads present white. An overloaded but exceptionally feel-good story.(Fiction. 9-13) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Summary

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen, this charmingly quirky coming-of-age story about a boy fighting for his freedom and a place to call home is brimming with mystery and adventure.

Jaxon Averett has had some terrifically bad luck. Because only the worst luck in the world can account for the fact that he has to live with his Uncle Clive Grimmitz, Aunt Helga, and their six kids in dead-end Walkonby, Kansas. Life with Jax's cousins isn't easy -- they're all bullies, and his aunt and uncle can't even remember his name.

Which is why, on the night before his twelfth birthday, Jax sneaks over to the neighboring property, floats a raft out into the middle of the hot springs lake, and drops anchor.

Jax is now the president and sole citizen of his own micronation, the Free State of Jax.

With the help of new friends, a local lawyer, and the property owner Owen O'Keefe, Jax's micronation begins to flourish. But the Grimmitzes will do anything to get him back and they are not above sabotage. On top of that, Jax is quickly embroiled in the mystery of Owen's missing brother -- and a lost windfall of the town's money.

Investigating puts everything Jax has built at risk, and when long-buried family secrets are unearthed, he must find the courage to do what's right, even if it means losing his only chance at freedom.

New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen weaves an extraordinary mystery and a moving and hilariously zany story about family, forgiveness, and the courage it takes to do what's right, no matter the cost.

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