Book Review: Jackpot by Nic Stone

My mother always told me to not judge someone, that we must walk a mile in their shoes to understand what they are going through. And this is a story about that and about how hard that can be.

Rico works in a convenience store - making money to help pay the bills at home - to put food on the table and a roof over her family's heads.

Zan is the school rich boy - the guy with the "perfect life" with a silver spoon in his mouth - nice clothes, huge house, great car. 

(Here you need to imagine the sound car tires make when you hit the brakes suddenly)

But the truth here is that we need to understand each others' stories before we can understand each other. 

Circumstances throw Zan and Rico together after Rico determines that she sold a winning lottery ticket to an old woman who visited the store. The ticket hasn't been cashed in and Rico thinks that the woman's dementia is standing in the way of riches. Rico offers to help trace the old woman. 

As they work to find the woman, Zan and Rico learn more about each other -- slowly. And their preconceived notions begin to fall away. 

Assumptions are a perilous trap and one that we all occasionally fall into. You are young, I am old. What assumptions do you have about me? What assumptions do I have about you? How can we take off those blinders, learn each others' stories, and make our world feel like a safer place to be?