I must preface to say, I met Rita Williams-Garcia at Rowan University's Master Class, so that may help skew the brilliance I see in her work:) She was incredibly gracious and kind to my daughter at the Reading.
In reading this novel, I switched gears, reading it as a reader, and reading it as a mother. My daughter was 7 when we read it together and she has read it several times since. I was torn at times, with questions my daughter asked, "Why is the mom mean?" And she for a long time called it the mean-mommy book. Then she called it the "three sisters," she has finally called it "One Crazy Summer." I am caught between wanting to protect my children and wanting to educate them, at times. Ultimately, I have decided that my daughter deserves to know the history of the world she lives in.
There are some facts our children can understand:
Children are abandoned.
People are arrested.
Children are neglected.
Corruption exists.
People make judgments on the color of skin.
Mothers make mistakes.
Children can be forced into independence.
From the first page of the book we can see several themes play out. The girls are alone. They are leaving what they know. Of course, racial unrest is a theme, but I propose it actually plays a character within the novel. If it is only seen as part of the setting then it is always there in a particular setting (which in a way it is), however, more interestingly it appears to interact with the girls. They are there, being kids, being the kids they have always been and only becoming aware of how that is regionally different.
In reading this novel, I switched gears, reading it as a reader, and reading it as a mother. My daughter was 7 when we read it together and she has read it several times since. I was torn at times, with questions my daughter asked, "Why is the mom mean?" And she for a long time called it the mean-mommy book. Then she called it the "three sisters," she has finally called it "One Crazy Summer." I am caught between wanting to protect my children and wanting to educate them, at times. Ultimately, I have decided that my daughter deserves to know the history of the world she lives in.
There are some facts our children can understand:
Children are abandoned.
People are arrested.
Children are neglected.
Corruption exists.
People make judgments on the color of skin.
Mothers make mistakes.
Children can be forced into independence.
From the first page of the book we can see several themes play out. The girls are alone. They are leaving what they know. Of course, racial unrest is a theme, but I propose it actually plays a character within the novel. If it is only seen as part of the setting then it is always there in a particular setting (which in a way it is), however, more interestingly it appears to interact with the girls. They are there, being kids, being the kids they have always been and only becoming aware of how that is regionally different.
For more about, why this narrative is important, see what I've written about Jacqueline Woodson's "Brown Girl Dreaming," I have these stories linked because of the importance they play to my family.