Eleven-year-old Jack Martel is camping in Acacia National Park with his mom, who has bipolar disorder, when she suddenly disappears during the night, taking the car and her tent with her. Jack knows that if he reports her disappearance, Social Services will take him away, so he knows that if he can't find his mom, he'll have to travel all the way back to their home in Boston by himself.
Small as an Elephant contains examples of:
- Car Ride Games: Jack and his mom used to play the License Plate Game, where they would make notes of how many plates they could find from each state.
- Disappeared Dad: When asked where his father is, Jack says that he doesn't have one. He doesn't say what happened to him, though.
- Five-Finger Discount: Jack, who loves elephants, shoplifts a toy elephant he can't afford and runs away as an employee chases him.
- Little Stowaway: Jack hides in the bed of a pickup truck owned by a family from Massachusetts. Instead of taking him to his home state, they drive to their country home in the middle of nowhere, to his dismay.
- No Medication for Me: Jack's mom doesn't take her medication because she feels more "alive" that way. In the past she's decided on several occasions never to go off it again, but those decisions never last.
- Only Friend: Jack's only friend is a girl named Nina. They hang out with other kids at school so they won't be teased about going steady, but after school they only go to each other's homes. Nina is the girl his grandmother calls when she realizes Jack and his mom aren't together. Nina tells her that Jack hasn't started school, and his grandmother calls the police. Now Jack is on the news. Jack feels betrayed when he finds out, because Nina knows Jack doesn't want her to ever even hint to anyone that his mother isn't a suitable guardian.
- Parental Abandonment: A man at a restaurant tells Jack where his mom went: she got on a boat headed to the Bahamas owned by a complete stranger.
- Security Blanket: Jack carries the stolen toy elephant throughout his journey, using it as a source of comfort and distraction.
- Shown Their Work: Every location Jack visits is a place that actually exists in Maine.
- Skipping School: Jack's mom sometimes used to pick him up in the middle of the day, saying he had a doctor's appointment, and then take him someplace fun, like an amusement park.
- Sleepy Depressive: After Jack's mom's manic episodes, she spends days and sometimes weeks in bed.
- Tantrum Throwing: Jack heads to a library, hoping he can contact his mom online, only to find that it's closed for Labor Day. He throws his backpack against a tree.
- That Cloud Looks Like...: Jack likes to look for elephant shapes in the clouds.
