The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Jenna notices that everyone in her family seems to be reinventing themselves. Father is always gone, Mother is busy restoring their old, crumbling house, and Lily has taken up cooking. Jenna wonders if Lily dislikes her because Jenna isn’t able to eat any food, yet. Bored and curious about life outside the house, Jenna sneaks out for a walk. She comes across Mr. Bender, their neighbor, who immediately knows who Jenna is. Mr. Bender is a reclusive environmental artist, but he takes to Jenna and her spunky attitude immediately, showing her his art and marveling at Jenna’s ability to recall a huge amount of historical facts, something Jenna wasn’t aware she could do. He invites her to help him feed the sparrows, but the birds refuse to eat the seed in Jenna’s hands. He urges her to be careful around the neighborhood, adding that he keeps track of his neighbors, and not all of them are friendly. While walking back home, Jenna falls into a shallow creek and is overcome by the sensation of drowning. Mother and Lily find her and patch her up, though Mother is furious that Jenna left the house. Jenna asks if she ever almost drowned as a child, and Lily reveals that she did, as a young toddler, before being rescued by Lily.