Jake Drake, Know-It-All

As he competes to win the computer of his dreams, Jake learns that there is something in his life that actually has a higher value than the Bluntium Twelve: his personal integrity. Early in the story, he establishes values that are important to him: being a nice person, having good friendships, and not acting like he is better than other people. He consciously crafts his story to avoid being seen as a bad person when, in Chapter 1, he goes out of his way to stress how much he loves computers and asks that this be taken into account when evaluating his actions. He emphasizes that he is “not a jerk,” not most of the time (2). In Chapter 1, Jake also talks about all the time he spends with Willie and how much fun they have together, showing how important his best friend is to him. Humility is also important to Jake: Although he admits that he is smart, he is also quick to add that “almost all the kids [he] know[s], they’re pretty smart, too” (3). Jake dislikes the behavior of “know-it-alls” like Marsha and Jake because they make other people feel bad and try to put themselves above everyone else, and this is not who Jake wants to be.

Once the temptation of the Bluntium Twelve computer is placed in his way, however, Jake struggles to maintain his values. He becomes sneaky, reading the science fair booklet during silent reading time, trying to hide getting a library pass from Kevin and Marsha, and refusing to tell anyone—even Willie—what his project is about. He becomes careless of others’ feelings, not only refusing to work with Willie but also being abrupt and cold when he does so. He selfishly focuses on his own goals and dreams of having the computer all to himself—he cannot even imagine sharing it with his best friend or his own father. All he can think about is being number one, no matter who else it hurts. In other words, Jake betrays each value that he lays out in his introduction of himself in Chapter 1. He is not nice, he is not a good friend, and he acts like he is better than other people.

For Jake, the turning point comes in Chapter 8 when he has an important realization during his conversation with Willie. “I had gotten as mean as Kevin and as sneaky as Marsha” (60), he says, and he expresses real regret for his treatment of Willie. Jake resolves to stop betraying his own values just to chase after the dream of the new computer. After this point in the story, he is able to conduct himself with genuine integrity. He asks Willie to be his partner and resumes treating Willie with the respect and friendship he deserves. When Jake’s father offers repeatedly to help with the project in Chapters 9 and 10, Jake refuses because this would be a violation of the contest rules—but he also stops to think about how this will make his father feel: “I felt a little sorry for my dad. He really wanted to help” (72). Jake hits on the solution of asking his father to come inspect their work when they are finished, and he is glad when this pleases his father. The triumph of Jake’s integrity over his desire for the fancy computer also shows in his reaction to Pete’s victory in the science fair. Jake is not bitter or resentful after he and Willie take second place; he is gracious and generous in his praise of Pete’s work. He understands that Pete’s project comes from the right place—a love of science and learning, not greed for a new computer—and that Pete’s integrity should be rewarded.

Although Jake initially begins his science fair project only as a means to an end, he eventually discovers how interesting learning can be for its own sake. Finding out how much fun science can be is the whole point of having a science fair as a learning activity in the first place. A character like Pete, who already understands that science can be very interesting, does not need to go through the process of a science fair—but this kind of project can be very motivating for students like Jake, who need a little extra push. At first, Jake seems to be learning the intended lesson. When, in Chapter 6, he makes his first electromagnet, he is excited to realize that he has an authentic question about electromagnets—it is not just something he is doing in order to win a prize, it is something he “really [wants] to know” about (45).

Unfortunately, the lure of the Bluntium Twelve looms larger than Jake’s interest in the scientific process. Soon, he is back to focusing on winning the science fair instead of on learning something interesting. It is only after his conversation with Willie in Chapter 8 that Jake begins to see how corrupting the influence of the fair’s grand prize has been. He gets angry at Lenny Cordo and at the adults at Despres Elementary for creating a situation in which “[e]veryone [is] going nuts about [the] new computers” (59). Once Jake is refocused on the electromagnets themselves and can share his excitement about them with Willie, he begins to enjoy his research again. On the Saturday he spends working on the project with Willie, he realizes that “all afternoon, [he doesn’t] think about Kevin or Marsha or Mr. Lenny Cordo or his Bluntium Twelve computer system. Not once” (76). He calls it “an afternoon of pure fun” and points out that this “is what science is supposed to be in the first place” (76).

The outcome of the science fair, significantly, is not a grand prize and a new computer for Jake and Willie. The reward of the grand prize goes to Pete, whose project is a piece of research that he had already been conducting for months simply because he loves science and learning. That Pete regularly spends his free time on science demonstrates that learning is a source of happiness for him—and Jake recognizes that this makes Pete deserving of winning the grand prize.