The Journal of John Avery Whittaker

Young John Avery Whittaker, age ten, begins keeping a journal that his stepmother, Fiona, gave him for Christmas. She tells him to fill it with his ideas, his inspirations, his important memories, and everything God is teaching him. So John records a whole year of his life, along with the "hard way lessons" he learns as he goes.

On New Year's Day, John looks back at the past. Two years have passed since his family left their little village of King Lassie, Scotland, for America, and he still remembers the cobblestones, the fog on the glen, and his mother Janet's laughter. His mother died of smallpox when he was five, after she caught it caring for his Grandpa Jackson, a clever mine worker who taught John perseverance and told him you don't get good ideas without a few bad ones. Before she died, John's mother made his father, Harold, promise to fill the house with laughter again. Harold later married Fiona, the nanny he had hired, and her daughter Charlotte became John's sister. John didn't like Fiona at first, thinking she was trying to take his mother's place, but she slowly won him over with horseback rides, jokes, and a family dance where she coaxed him onto his feet, telling him, "Failing at least means you're playing." She also taught him that imitating the right people is a good way to learn almost anything. After Grandpa Jackson passed away, Harold accepted a position teaching theology at Duke University, and though John didn't want to leave Scotland, his father compared the move to pruning rose bushes: cutting things away helps new things grow. Harold told him, "I'm not asking you to be happy, son. I'm asking you to trust me." The family sailed to America, where John found his father was right about the fresh start.

Through the year, John's journal fills up with adventures. His parents give him Grandpa Jackson's own journal, explaining that imitating godly people helps a person grow to be like Christ. On Valentine's Day he gets a crush on Lisa, the new girl at school, and his father suggests making a list of what to look for in a girl, the way he once did. But when Lisa tells John she cares most about being popular and doesn't believe in God, John knows she isn't the girl for him, though he keeps praying for her. His lesson: when you're looking for a girl, find one like your mom.

In May, John stands up for a quiet boy named Jack Allen when the class bully, Lazlo Farnsworth, picks on him. John reminds Lazlo of the Golden Rule and earns a black eye and the taunt "Dim Whittaker" for his trouble. Jack is amazed that a stranger would defend him, and the two become friends. When John invites Jack to church and mentions that Pentecost Sunday is called Whitsunday in Scotland, Jack decides John's nickname should be Whit. John figures it's better than Dimwit, and by the end of the school day, the name has stuck. Over the summer, John goes fishing with his father and soaks up his quiet wisdom about humility, prayer, and how even teachers never stop learning. On his eleventh birthday, he lists what he wants to do with his life: teach like his dad, write for a magazine, invent things that teach people in interesting ways, and most of all, let people know he's a Christian. In December, after his father says God gives wisdom generously to anyone who searches for it, John imagines meeting Wisdom himself, a funny old voice hiding behind a rock who declares he's worth everything you've got, then sells himself to John for his last quarter.

On Christmas Eve, the family goes caroling and ends up at Jack Allen's house, where Jack's mother apologizes that she can't offer them anything because her husband has lost his job. Fiona insists on bringing the family a basket. Privately, Jack confides a harder secret: his father is out drinking, like he does a lot, and he begs Whit not to tell anyone. Whit promises, because that's what friends do, and wonders how to be the kind of friend who sticks closer than a brother. On Christmas Day, when Fiona gives him a fresh journal for the new year, John gets an idea. A mysterious package appears on Jack's porch: a journal of his own, with a note explaining that keeping one helped John see how God was working in his life, and maybe it will help Jack see it too, even though he doesn't believe in God yet. It is signed simply, "Whit." John closes his year with the biggest lesson of all: what matters most is becoming more like Jesus every day, and he hopes that in the coming year, Jack will figure that out too.