Imagine this, one day you take a trip far away from home with your family.  Then the next morning, everyone, and everything that you took along on the trip is gone.  “As Small As An Elephant”,by Jennifer Jacobson, is a cliff hanging story that revolves around a little boy named Jack.  One day he was on an exciting trip with his mother, at a national park.  The next, he was on his own stranded on the lonely road, with fourteen dollars and  fifty cents, and his backpack, with a minimal amount of supplies.  In “As Small As An Elephant”, the author includes symbolism, imagery, hyperbole, and metaphors, to increase the amount of energy in the book.  These are in the story, because it’s more enjoyable to read a book when it’s exciting.  These techniques are evident when elephants become a huge part of Jack's life, and when Jack has no tent to sleep in, with no warmth.  These techniques are also important when Jack’s fear of spiders comes to hand, during the rambunctious life. 

Jennifer Jacobson, incorporates symbolism in her writing.  The symbolism in the book, is the small elephant that Jack carries in his pocket.  This elephant has a very deep meaning to Jack.  On (Pg.5)  Jennifer writes, “He was an expert on all things elephant.”  And on (Pg.156) “He reached for his still unnamed elephant.”  Both of these quotes show that Jack knows and cares a lot about elephants.  To him they mean hope and courage to strive for his goals.  This illustrates that she uses this technique because the book is more comprehensible.  The elephant that gets used throughout this book, is a key element in the  story.  Jack relies on elephants, and knows so much about them.  It shows that Jack uses the toy elephant to help find his lost mother.

Another writing technique that the author uses, is imagery.  This was when Jack had no tent, and no one to keep him comforted.  She describes how Jack was freezing and had no source of heat.  On (Pg. 56),  Jennifer Jacobson is very descriptive on how Jack is feeling. “ It was barely light when he woke, and he was freezing.  No way was the earth’s center a ball of fire.  At this moment Jack was certain that the core was an ice cube and it was sending frozen daggers to it’s surface.”  The evidence is very relevant to my claim, because this whole sentence that the author wrote, is very descriptive, and you can imagine Jack being frozen to death.  It helps the reader understand how Jack was feeling, and really engage in the book.

Beyond the fact that the author uses symbolism, and imagery, she also included hyperbole.  Jennifer Jacobson, was very specific when she uses the exaggerations of Jack’s fears, that occur in the story.  An example of the hyperbole, is on (Pg.244),  “He straightened his legs, trying not to think of the bazillion spiders that must be all around him.”  This example shows that Jack was frightened about the spiders he was around,  He was so uptight he couldn’t think about anything else.  He hates spiders nor was he comfortable.  This quote proves my claim because Jennifer Jacobson clearly want’s you to understand that Jack was in a tough situation, that was very uncomfortable.  Not only does she want us to understand what Jack is going through.   She also want us to capture the emotion, and creativity in the book.

Finally, the author wants us to grasp one of the last writing techniques, and that’s a metaphor.  The author uses this when Jack encounters a very abzillerent life.  One metaphor that Jennifer Jacobson writes is on (Pg. 268).  “Your life is going to be a zoo for a few days.  This is a quote that describes the metaphor, as your life is going to be crazy.  Using this makes the story very intriguing, and more fun to read.  This supports my claim because, the author wants us to get more of the whimsy, and fun type of feeling.  She want’s the reader to enjoy what she writes.

In the end, Jennifer Jacobson uses symbolism, imagery, hyperbole, and metaphors, to make the book more memorable.  Using these techniques helps to describe, and comprehend what’s happening in the story.  The author uses many techniques to help the reader be more engaged in the book.  She does this by using the elephant as a symbol, describing how cold Jack was by using imagery, exaggerating how Jack was around spiders by including a hyperbole, and the last but not least, using a metaphor to understand Jacks crazy life.  The author, she uses all of these techniques to make the story more illustrative, and enjoyable to read.  She does an outstanding job of being elaborative, with all of the writing techniques, that she incorporates.  Now you know what types of techniques authors use to make their books ten times better, go out and let all of your stories shine to the world.  Also, next time you want a cliff hanging, out of this world book,  Go pick up a copy of Jennifer Jacobson’s terrific book, “As Small As An Elephant”.