“Facts are so much better than stories. You can’t see a story. You can’t hold it in your hand and measure it.

“You can’t hold a manatee in your hand either. But still. Stories are lies, when you get right down to it. And I don’t like being lied to.” 

In the first chapter, Jackson describes encountering Crenshaw, a giant surfing cat, without making clear whether this cat is real or imagined. The second chapter clarifies that Crenshaw is Jackson’s imaginary friend. His existence runs counter to Jackson’s stated preference for facts. For Jackson, facts are tangible and rooted in reality, the qualities he believes his parents do not have. His statement that he does not “like being lied to” refers to what he feels his parents do to him. Though they do not expressly lie, they do withhold information about the family’s financial difficulties, causing Jackson anxiety. By the end of the book, he will learn that stories can have value, but he also asks his parents to be honest with him, which he needs to feel safe in the face of life’s unpredictability.

“The mall manager made us leave. I did not get the free basket with candy eggs or a photo with the fake rabbit.

“That was the first time I realized people don’t always like to hear the truth.”

In this passage, Jackson recalls discovering the Easter Bunny was actually a man in costume and revealing this to the gathered crowd. Later in the book, Marisol will remind him of a similar experience, when he exposed the secret behind a magician’s trick. Though Jackson is proud of being able to discover and face the truth, Marisol tells him he “took the magic away” (213).