The Gaither Sisters Roundup

An excellent series for those interested in diverse characters and stories.

Taking place in 1968, the first book follows three sisters from Brooklyn as they travel to Oakland, CA one summer to meet their mother (who abandoned them seven years ago) for the first time. This book might be especially appealing for those interested in social justice.

The second book sees the girls return to Brooklyn, where they need to get used to a life that is suddenly very different from the one they left before the summer. This book includes some mature content (drug addiction), but is otherwise a more "typical" coming-of-age book.

The last book takes place in 1969, when the girls spend a summer down home in Alabama. While Oakland was a hotbed of activity for racial justice, and Brooklyn was modern if not radical in its take on social issues, rural Alabama was a throwback to segregation and the Klan. The girls learn about some old family history, and each individually becomes more of her own person.

• One Crazy Summer (#1) ★★★★★
• P.S. Be Eleven (#2) ★★★★
• Gone Crazy in Alabama (#3) ★★★

Gone Crazy in Alabama (Gaither Sisters #3) by Rita Williams-Garcia

★★★

I think this book would make a good movie. It's the final installment of the series about the Gaither sisters, yet it stands well on its own.

The book takes us into the Deep South of 1969. Against the backdrop of the moon landing - which sets the context for the time period - the Gaither sisters visit their grandmother Big Ma and great-grandmother Ma Charles in Alabama. Slowly and gradually, the girls learn old family secrets - the family tree at the end of the book is helpful - with Ma Charles trying to impress upon them the importance of knowing where you came from, while Big Ma was content to let sleeping dogs lie.

This summer - perhaps with a bit of a push from the Mrs. always saying that Vonetta and Fern are capable beings, too - Vonetta and Fern started to stretch their wings. Delphine was left at a bit of a loss, as her identity, until then, had been wholly tied to being a substitute mother to her two younger sisters. I felt sad for Delphine, and happy for Fern, who was discovering herself. Regretfully, I came to dislike Vonetta. I couldn't see why Uncle Darnell and Jimmy Trotter favored her. Yes, she was entertaining and lively, but she was also selfish, stubborn, and sometimes downright mean.

The book ambled along until about 3/4 of the way through, when it took a totally unexpected and dramatic turn.

Without giving away too much of the surprise, I hope it's enough, but not too much, to say that something happens to Vonetta. It tore me apart that Delphine felt the need to defend herself against blame, that even Cecile said to Delphine, "I told you to look out for Vonetta,"(p. 232) and Jimmy Trotter said, "You're hard on Vonetta." (p. 255) As if Delphine hadn't spent most of her young life being a mother instead of a sister to Vonetta because her own mother had abandoned them and her father and grandfather expected her to be her sisters' guardian. It was hypocritical of Cecile to expect Delphine to look out for Vonetta, when she just spent an entire book - P.S. Be Eleven - trying to tell Delphine that she ought to act like the child she was, rather than trying to be her sisters' mother. That anyone could blame 12-year-old Delphine for what happened to Vonetta, and not Vonetta's own stubbornness and choice of behavior, was frustrating and infuriating. I was indignant on Delphine's behalf, and I wanted to reach through the book and hug her and tell her she was loved.

Towards the end of the book, there is an especially poignant moment between Delphine and Big Ma after Big Ma returns from the court house. In that brief interaction, we see how truly devoted and loyal and loving Delphine is to her Big Ma - and by extension, to her family as a whole.

Overall, I think the themes in this book surpass the middle grade audience it's intended for. I'm an adult, and this book gave me so much to think about.

P.S. Be Eleven (Gaither Sisters #2) by Rita Williams-Garcia

★★★★

This book picks up exactly where One Crazy Summer leaves off. The girls are on the plane returning to Brooklyn, and right away you can see the influence the summer in Oakland has had on them.

This book, even more than the first one, I think is best read by middle schoolers, even though the reading level might be fine for upper elementary readers. In the book, Delphine wants to read Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, but her mother tells her to wait until she's older, because "[i]t is a bad thing to bite into hard fruit with little teeth. You will say bad things about the fruit when the problem is your teeth." (p. 143) I feel like that advice applies to this book as well, even if this is a children's book; if you aren't ready for it, much of it will go over your head, and you won't appreciate it properly. Also, there are some heavy ideas in this book, including drug addiction, which might be a bit much for some young readers.

I didn't find the storytelling in this book as tight as in One Crazy Summer. There's a lot going on as Delphine tries to reconcile her new woke-ness with the un-woke-ness of her Pa and Big Ma. She learns that relationships can be complex; before the summer, Pa and Big Ma were the sole arbiters of right and wrong, but now she realizes that she doesn't always agree with them, and it's possible to like someone for one reason, and dislike the same person for another reason, and all the while still love them. Meanwhile, Pa has a new girlfriend, Uncle Darnell is back from Vietnam, all three sisters are crazy for the Jackson Five, Delphine is still trying to figure out her relationship with her mother via letters, and through all this, Delphine is trying to navigate the sixth grade, including "some-timey" friends (p. 63), boys, and a new teacher she wants to impress.

I have to say, I'm not crazy about how this book ended. A few loose ends were tied up, but mostly it felt abrupt. Knowing this family, you can't rightfully expect a completely happy ending, but I admit I did hope.

One Crazy Summer (Gaither Sisters #1) by Rita Williams-Garcia

★★★★★

Wow. This book is real, contemporary children's literature. The writing has a rhythm to it, a kind of no-nonsense lyricism.

Set in 1968, the Gaither sisters - Delphine (11), Vonetta (9), and Fern (7) - are sent by themselves to spend a summer with their mother Cecile, who left them and their father when Fern was just a baby. The story is narrated by Delphine, and her voice is authentic and straightforward - there's no sugar-coating here. While Papa and Big Ma (their paternal grandmother) in Brooklyn have raised the girls to be ever-mindful of their place as "Negroes" and "colored" children, suddenly they find themselves in Oakland, CA, at the center of the Black Panther party, where they learn that everyone else around them is unabashedly "black" out loud.

I have a working knowledge of the Black Panthers, but I admit, never once before had I considered the question, "What about the children?" Surely there were children coming of age at this time, witnessing the police brutality and the Black Panthers' militant open-carry of rifles. How did they process the world around them?!

There's a lot that can be considered controversial in this book. Delphine is wary of the guns and secrecy of the Black Panthers, and she knows Big Ma doesn't like them, yet she gets caught up in the feelings of empowerment. Are they victims of propaganda? Maybe. But they are learning about justice, and their own identities. It occurs to me that the Black Panther summer camp they attend might not be so different from vacation bible schools sponsored by churches, with activities to engage children and also a specific message to deliver. Anyway, while Papa and Big Ma are deferential and careful around police officers, in Oakland they see black people being outrightly defiant, even calling the police "racist pigs". There is no "good cop" to counter the "bad cop" narrative. Also, it's just a raw depiction of hard lives: the Gaither sisters grow up without a mother, their mother shows no interest in them, and we eventually learn about Cecile's heartbreaking history.

For all those reasons, I'd consider this book most appropriate for middle school readers, or at least preteen readers. Even though the reading level and the characters themselves are suitable for upper elementary readers, I think there's just so much going on in this book, that a little more maturity and worldliness can help the reader to more fully understand and appreciate the events, the characters, and the exploration of race. Overall, an important read for any American, especially those interested in social justice.

Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan

★★★★½

This book uses the format in which each chapter is told from a particular character's first-person perspective. The chapters alternate between Ravi and Joe. Ravi is - in his words - "fresh off the boat" from India. Joe is one of Ravi's white American classmates. This book spans just one week, the first week of 5th grade.

I loved so many things about this book. I'll just try to lay them out.

I love that we hear the internal voice of a child immigrant. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other children's book that I've read that includes such a character - and I find that shocking. Why aren't there more children's books like this?! I'm going to try to seek out some more... Anyway, I love that the reader is put into a position of better understanding how big the divide is between an immigrant's home country and America. American children - like Joe - are sure to look upon new immigrant classmates like Ravi as odd and different. But Ravi's narration lets us know that Ravi is not only a typical kid in India, but the very things that make him a target for ridicule in America are what helped make him popular and successful in India!

Meanwhile, I love that Joe isn't just a "regular" kid in America - he's a good kid, but he feels different, too, because he has Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). He's thoughtful, but frequently misjudged. In this way, I love that this book includes a positive representation not only of cultural diversity, but also of special education diversity.

On the one hand, I love that this book takes place in just one week. The kids are not bottling up their feelings for weeks and weeks, hiding them from their parents, letting things get worse. Though there is some hesitancy, both kids eventually open up to their parents, and things get resolved. I love that. These kids have parents and grandparents who care about them, and they really can help.

On the other hand, I was somewhat disappointed that the book only spans one week, because at the end, I wasn't ready to leave Ravi and Joe. I wanted to read more, and see how their friendship developed!

I love that this book had the ethnic-food-for-lunch quandary that is like a rite of passage for all immigrant children. I also love that the author gave it a bit of a different spin - Ravi did not have to feel ashamed of his lunch to realize that his lunch made him different. He recognized the difference, but was also proud and happy to eat the Indian food in his Indian-style lunch box.

When I got to the end, I loved that this book has two glossaries - one for Indian words, and one for American words! It really helps to drive home the point that different cultures are tied to the language they use to describe every-day things. Just as an American reader would need a little context to understand words like kho kho (an Indian children's game), Shakti Kapoor (a Bollywood actor), and uppuma (an Indian food), a non-American reader would need a little context to understand words like Hacky Sack, Kohl's, and salsa! Not to mention American slang like "puke" and "crud".

Finally, I loved realizing that the Ravi and Joe portions were written by different authors; presumably the Indian author wrote the Ravi chapters, and the non-Indian author wrote the Joe chapters. Their voices are distinct, you can hear their characters' personalities through their narration, and it may or may not have been relevant, but I just like the idea that both authors had two boys of their own, from whom maybe they drew some inspiration.

So with all that being said, I gave this book just shy of 5 stars because of something that seems to bother me in a lot of children's books - the bully. I don't know why, but when it comes to realistic children's fiction, I always sympathize with the child bully just a little bit - I want the bully to be fleshed out enough so that we all realize that bullies aren't just evil, mean-spirited people, especially when they're kids. Usually, they have some issues they need to work out themselves, probably involving their home life, or how they're treated by their parents. In this case, the bully is a rich, probably spoiled Indian-American boy. He gets his comeuppance, but does he learn anything? Also, I wonder if Indian-American readers might resent how poorly American-born Indians are portrayed in this book, especially in the way they are depicted as being wholly different in every way from immigrant Indians. I would have liked to have seen some kind of resolution that might have brought Ravi and Dillon together in some way, even if only briefly.

Millicent Min Roundup

This an excellent series telling the story of one summer in Rancho Rosetta. Each book is told from the perspective of its main character.

Millicent Min is a precocious 11-year-old Chinese-American girl who is heading into her senior year in high school and taking her first college course over the summer. To her dismay, she is also roped into tutoring Stanford Wong, whom she considers a dumb jock. Happily, she finds her first real same-age friend in Emily Ebers, who just moved to town, but she's afraid that her being a genius might ruin the relationship. Her story is cleverly told through a series of journal entries.

Stanford Wong, also Chinese-American, is the star basketball player on his school's A-Team, but he failed 6th grade English. In order to advance into 7th grade - and stay on the A-Team - he needs to go to summer school, and Millicent Min is hired to tutor him. Stanford is a pretty complex character: he struggles with living up to his tiger dad's high academic expectations, he values his friendships but is embarrassed to tell them about summer school; he has a real soft spot for his aging grandmother who is slowly losing her mental faculties; and to top it all off, he has his first real crush on Emily Ebers. Not being the type to keep a journal, his story is told in the present tense, with both date and time stamps, giving the impression that we're reading his internal monologue narration of his life.

Emily Ebers is blond, bubbly, a little on the heavy side, confident in herself, but not in the world around her. She and her mom just moved to Rancho Rosetta, CA from New Jersey following a heart-breaking divorce. Emily struggles with accepting her parents' divorce; she yearns for attention from her far-away father while icing out her mother and blaming her mother for the divorce. She keeps a letter journal, addressing each entry to her father and planning to send the entire journal to her father at the end of the summer.

I loved so much about each of the books, but what really impressed me was Lisa Yee's ability to get into the mind of whichever main character was narrating the story. I've read books in which each chapter is written from the perspective of a certain character, but in many cases, the only way you would know who the narrator is is by the name in the chapter title. In this series, each character has such a clear personality and distinctive voice that comes through in the writing, and you can imagine real middle schoolers finding so many authentic connections throughout the books.

• Millicent Min, Girl Genius (#1) ★★★★
• Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time (#2) ★★★★½
• So Totally Emily Ebbers (#3) ★★★★★

So Totally Emily Ebers (Millicent Min #3) by Lisa Yee

★★★★★

Lisa Yee just gets better with each book! I have read other books and series in which different chapters or books are meant to be narrated from the perspective of different characters, but so often the only way to tell who is narrating each chapter or book is to read the name in the title. Not so with this series! Millicent, Stanford, and Emily have such distinctive personalities and voices that come through so clearly in the writing.

This is the third book in the Millicent Min series. This time, we are seeing the events of the summer from Emily Ebers's perspective. Emily is a bubbly, life-loving 12-year-old who loves fashion, is a little on the heavy side, and confident in who she is as a person. What she isn't sure of is how to deal with all the life changes around her. Her parents just got a divorce, and she's reeling. Her mother is trying, but is herself struggling with heartbreak and change, and can't yet be the solid source of support that Emily needs. Emily blames her mother for the divorce and continually ices her out. Meanwhile, Emily yearns for attention from her father, yet rarely gets any. Young readers whose parents have divorced may find Emily relatable.

In this book, the story is told in a series of letters written in a journal from Emily to her father. Emily's plan is to send her dad the journal at the end of the summer. Like Millicent Min, there are times when the narration is unreliable; we the reader know what's going on, but poor Emily still has her eyes closed to the truth.

Meanwhile, Emily is trying to make new friends in town before school starts in the fall. Beside befriending Millicent, she also makes friends with other girls in middle school, including Wendy and the "popular girls", Julie and the "Triple A's" (three girls who tag along with Julie and all have names starting with "A"). Emily is already too self-confident to truly fall under Julie's spell, but it does take some time for Emily to stand up and assert herself. I love that Emily is able to tell off Julie without actually telling her off in a rude way - it's just so totally Emily Ebers to stand up for herself in a way that spreads kindness and confidence.

Much of this book also focuses on Emily's first real crush on Stanford Wong. I love how Emily is white - actually, Jewish - and just happens to have a Chinese-American best friend and a Chinese-American crush. It also turns out - from one mention of someone's last name - that one of Emily's best friends back in New Jersey was also Asian-American. It's that flavor of diversity where the multiculturalism is not at all a central or even minor concern; the characters just happen to be Asian-American.

One last thought, just in case anyone appreciates this kind of heads-up. During the course of this eventful summer, Emily also has her Judy Blume moment - that is, she gets her period. It's just something that happens!