MMGM: Stealing Mt. Rushmore by Daphne Kalmar

 

It's the summer of 1974, and the Watergate scandal is all the news. But for Nell Sanders, 12, there are other worries. Five months ago, her mother had walked out, leaving Nell to care for her depressed father Ronnie, a short order cook, three brothers, and the house. Mom may be gone, but her father's dream of taking his family to see Mt. Rushmore isn't. It''s such an important monument to him that he named his three sons after the presidents carved there. Well, all except Abe Lincoln. That should have been Nell, instead she was named after Susan B. Anthony. 

But when her father discovers that the money he worked so hard to save is gone for their trip, he's sure their mother took it when she left. Depressed and angry, Ronnie takes to his bed. Left to fend for herself, the house and her brothers George, 15, Tom, 10 and Teddy, 6, Nell is determined to replace the missing money so that everything will once again be A-okay, as her dad would say.

And as if she hasn't enough to do, Nell and Teddy rescue a dog that is being abused, even though their father has made it clear - no dogs allowed. Naturally, they name the dog Abe. As if George becoming surlier, Tom withdrawing more into the basement to build models, and Teddy becomes needier isn't enough, Nell's best friend has become boy-crazy, causing a rift between them. But not before Nell comes up with a brilliant way to make some replacement Mt. Rushmore money with Maya's help.

To top all this off, Nell finds out that it was George who took the money in the first place and gave it to their mother for her new apartment in Boston. Then, when their dad finds this out, the rupture in the Sanders family just keeps widening, to the point where even Nell begins to lose hope. 

The Sanders family is certainly dysfunctional, but not because mom left. She has always made it clear she did not want to be there, did not want kids, did not want to be married. But while she was often mean and insulting to her family, her presence is still missed. 

Now, Nell is thrown into the role her mom should have fulfilled, because, as she says, "Mom had ducked out on cleaning and cooking and kid watching and I got stuck with it because I was the girl." Yet, Nell is extraordinarily kind to Teddy, giving him the motherly care and attention she so desperately needs herself. The clearest example of that is when her body begins to change, and there is no mom there to help and support her.   

Kalmar includes a number of important themes in Stealing Mt. Rushmore. It is interesting that she chose to tell Nell's story against the backdrop of Watergate. Both involve disillusionment, Nell in her mother, the country in Nixon; relinquishment, mother and family relinquishing each other, Nixon relinquishing the presidency; and both of these things result in change for the family and the country. 

But there are also themes of  neglect, a father who sleeps his depression away, and racism directed at Nell's friend Maya, whose family was from the Azores and whom Nell's neighbor refers to as "that foreign girl," but neither of these themes were explored with any depth. I also found that some of the language and some of the topics had a more modern sensibility - for example, a hippie telling Nell about how Mt Rushmore was stolen from the Native Americans living there. On the other hand, I loved all the period details, and there were plenty giving the setting a real feeling of authenticity, making this a good choice for anyone interested in historical fiction.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+

This book was gratefully received from Barbara Fisch at Blue Slip Media

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, 

now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.

Summer and July by Paul Mosier

It's July 1st and Goth girl Julliet, 12, is on a plane with her mother traveling from Michigan to Ocean Park, California, where her mom, a doctor, will be working in an ER. Julliet's parents are divorced, and her dad is in Switzerland with his new younger girlfriend. Julliet is also a girl who is fraught with fears, all shared with her best friend Fern, whom she is forbidden to hang out with after a misunderstanding. 

On her first morning, Julliet finds a note from her mom listing possible goals for her, including exercise, fresh air and work on her fears. Later, she meets Summer, an energetic surfer girl who wants to be friends. At first reluctant, Julliet, whom Summer insists on calling "Betty," slowly begins to warm up to Summer, and Summer for her part, patiently puts up with Julliet fears, while slowly, and even more patiently helping her deal with them. 

At first, they simply walk around town, checking out stores and just hanging out. Summer, who lives year round in Ocean Park knows everyone. Like Julliet, she's mostly on her own because her parents both work. Eventually, Summer gets Julliet to go to the beach and into the water, introducing her to surfing culture. Always at her side when Julliet confronts a fear, the two begin with skateboarding at the beach, then graduate to boogie boarding, all the while continuing to pal around, visiting to Santa Monica pier, and just having fun. But once in a while, Summer isn't available and Julliet wonders why. It seems Summer has a secret and isn't ready to share it with Julliet, at least not until Julliet is ready to finally try surfing. 

I don't think I've read a good surfing book since I found my sister's old copy of Gidget in the late 70s. So surfing culture isn't exactly something I'm up on. But I am a girl who spent summers on the Jersey shore, and I do love the ocean, and enjoyed reading a book that is set in an ocean community. In fact, the setting in Summer and July is so realistic, I could practically feel the sand and smell the salty ocean breeze.

I loved reading Julliet's transformation as she became more of a Betty, as her "fears" dropped away and she seemed to feel a much less antagonistic towards her mother. Her summer with Summer gives her a confidence that she lacked before arriving in Ocean Park, even allowing her to explore her sexuality. To his credit, Mosier never lets the reader think that Julliet's fears and her Goth look are anything more than an affectation she's picked up from Fern and defense mechanism which suits her anger at her parents for divorcing and the way they dealt with the aftermath of that divorce. Right from the start, it's clear there is someone else under the heavy black eye make up and clothing.

Summer, on the other hand, is such charming, natural, and kind character without any of the shallowness you might associate with pretty blond surfer girls. Summer has an inner strength that enables her to face everyday with a smile and a positive attitude, despite what has happened in her family. And it's this inner strength that she uncovers in Julliet. I also think that by always calling her Betty, she gives Julliet the freedom she needs to find herself away from her everyday life.

Summer and July is an textured, multilayered coming of age story that turned out to be one of the most satisfying books I've read this summer.     

This book is recommended for readers age 10+

This book was an EARC gratefully received from Edelweiss+

Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams

Life for 13-year-old Genesis Anderson isn't easy. Especially on the day Genesis finally comes home from school with a few girls she's been wanting to be friends with and finds her family's belongings laid out in the yard and the front door locked...evicted again. Once more, her dad has drunk and gambled the rent money away. And that means that Genesis and her mother will be staying with her overly critical (maternal) grandmother for a few days, until dad finds another place to live.

And as if dealing with an unreliable father, eviction and another new school aren't hard enough, Genesis must also contend with her own feelings of self-loathing and low self-esteem. And she knows exactly what the reasons are for feeling that way - she keeps a list of all things she hates about herself, a list begun by some cruel kids in 5th grade in a school she had once attended, and to which she has since added more things. And now she's added reason #86: "Because she let them call her Charcoal, Eggplant, and Blackie" (pg. 7). Genesis has very dark skin just like her dad, and has been told so often that she's too black by people, including her father and grandmother, that she has internalize their negative attitude.

But now, dad has moved Genesis and her mother to a big house in a more upscale suburban  neighborhood and she's been enrolled in a fancier school than in the past. Things aren't quite a bad as in the other schools she attended and Genesis even begins to make some new friends, including shy Sophia, a white girl with her own school horror story. But it is her music teacher, Mrs. Hill, who believes in Genesis' musical talent and introduces her to such greats as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Etta James, black women who learned to put their joy, longing, loneliness and soul into their incredibly beautiful eloquent  music. Can Genesis learn to use the negative voices that hold her back to finally begin to love herself for who she is?

Genesis Begins Again is a tough book to read. Genesis is so young and vulnerable, and people can be so cruel to her, and what makes it harder is the her story, in all its poignancy, is a story of so many girls just like her. At the heart of this novel is the issue around the colorism that Genesis faces every day at home, at school and within herself. She was supposed to take after her light-skinned mother and she is very aware of her father's disappointment that she didn't. Her grandmother, who intently dislikes Genesis' dad, introduces her the the brown bag test (a test he failed), and her belief that light-skin is a measure of superiority. Some of the conversations with her dad, grandmother, and even Sophia are heartbreaking to read. As are Genesis' attempts at trying to lighten her skin, all the more difficult to read knowing that they just won't work, but understanding her need to try. And try she does, with lemons, bleach, cream, even exfoliating her skin raw at one point.

I can't say I loved the book's ending, but I would still highly recommend it. I did wonder why Genesis's mother was not involved in the handling of the family's finances so that she didn't know the rent wasn't being paid, or why she didn't just take Genesis and leave.

On the whole, I thought Genesis Begins Again is a book that should be read by everyone regardless of their skin color. Sensitively written, it is an eyeopening window into the tough subject of colorism within the black community and racism in the white community, making it is a book that needed to be written for today's world.

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL