Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

 SPOILER ALERT!!

Fighting Words 

by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Dial Books/Penguin BFYR, 2020, 272 pages

Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse and Attempted Suicide

Life has not been easy for Della, 10, and her sister Suki, 17. They are both in foster care now that their mother is in prison for blowing up a hotel room cooking meth. Six years ago, they had been taken in by their mother's former boyfriend, Clifton, but he has now been arrested and is about to go on trial for child sexual abuse. Suki caught him attempting to sexually abuse Della and filmed what was going on while calling the police. Now, Della is expected to testify at Clifton's trial, but Suki insists that it must be filmed and not done in person. Their new foster mother, Francine, is an old hand at fostering kids and really seems to be on Suki and Della's side. Living with her is the closest to a normal life that they have ever experienced. There is enough food to eat and no one abuses them. They go to school regularly, although Della struggles with the work, but also makes friends with a girl named Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards) and stands up to a boy in the class named Trevor who is always harassing the girls for wearing or not wearing a bra. 

And so it is in just such an atmosphere that Della begins to narrate their story, seemingly searching for something that she may have missed. Francine, who know exactly what has happened to the girls, keeps asking them if they want to talk to a counselor, but their case worker never follows through with that. Then, Suki attempts suicide, suffering from PTSD and unable to continue to be strong for herself and Della. As the pieces to what happened to Suki while living with Clifton begin to make sense to Della, she decides that she would rather testify in the courtroom at his trial instead of on a recording. She also finds the strength to report what Trevor has been doing to the girls in her class, right under the teacher's nose.  

Fighting Words ends well, but I think it needed a positive ending for it to be considered a middle grade novel. There is a lot of heavy stuff going on in Suki and Della's story, but Brubaker Bradley has included enough humor that it doesn't diminish the experiences of the sisters, but it sure is needed for some relief. I found Della to be a wonderful unreliable narrator (after all, she's only 10). And I was glad this didn't turned into an ugly foster care story. It's always encouraging to read about a positive foster care situation, and while Francine is a little rough around the edges, she is a real softy with her heart in the right place. 

I loved the irony of Della using the word "snow" whenever she was using "colorful language" and she did that a lot. I used to teach in the Bronx and Della's "snowy" language and defensive attitude reminded me of some of the kids I had in my classes, making her such an authentic character for me. I think Brubaker Bradley did a stellar job presenting Della and Suki's story, getting what happened across without being terrible graphic except for the one incident involving Della. But, in the end, I think this book needs trigger warnings - it is definitely not for every middle school reader. 

This book is recommended for readers age 10+

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

After spending time in a high-security juvenile facility from which he ran away, Joseph Brook, 13, is placed in a foster home in rural Maine.  The Hurd's have a small farm and along with their son Jack, 11, Joseph is expected to get up early in the morning and do chores before school.  Soon, Joseph has won over Rosie, a cow who moos her love for him whenever he comes to milk her.

But while life with the Hurd's may be better for Joseph than a juvenile facility, school is another thing, especially after the other kids find out the he has fathered a child at his age, a 3 month old daughter named Jupiter he is forbidden to ever see.  Jack, who has been a model student, suddenly starts acting out out solidarity with Joseph, and a tenuous bond begins to form between the two boys.

It's clear that Joseph had been badly abused at the juvenile facility he was put into, though he refuses to talk about it.  But little by little, Joseph begins to feel more comfortable in the Hurd household, and he even finds support among some of the teachers at the school he attends with Jack, though there are plenty of faculty who take an instant dislike to him and students who seem to enjoy bullying him, sometimes physically.

And, little by little, Joseph begins to open up to Jack about the events that led up to Jupiter.  How he met Madeleine, also 13, a wealthy girl often left home alone and how they fell in love with each other.  Now, all he wants now is to see Jupiter, and be her father.  But Madeleine died in childbirth and child services want Joseph to give up his parental right so that Jupiter can be adopted.  Joseph has no intention of doing that and when he finally decides to find Jupiter, Jack is right there helping him.

But when Joseph's real father shows up with a lawyer, insisting that Joseph is a minor and he is the only one who can sign away any parental rights, it becomes clear that he isn't acting out of concern for Joseph, but only in the hope of extorting a lot of money from Jupiter's wealthy maternal grandparents, money he feels he's entitled to.

It is a scenario that can only lead to tragedy.

The story is narrated in the first person by Jack, so that the reader gets a relatively straight-forward, but rather naive version of Joseph's story, nicely unclouded by any moral judgement. Jack, who was pretty excited to finally have an older brother to hang around with, was from the start on the side of Joseph, and unlike most of the people in Joseph's life, Jack sticks by him no matter what.

Orbiting Jupiter was recommended to me by so many people, I couldn't wait to read it.  It is a short book, so well written, that extra words, explanations, descriptions would have cluttered it up and diminished its impact.  I was riveted from the start, reading it on one sitting.

I found it to be a sad, sobering look at how we treat children who are dealt a rotten hand from the start and are caught in unhappy, dangerous circumstance they are, for the most part, powerless to change.  Wherever Joseph should have found support and trust, he had only found neglect and abuse until he meets Madeleine and later, the Hurds.  By the end of the book, my sadness had turned to anger - at the adults who were responsible for Joseph's life before he got to the Hurds.

Orbiting Jupiter is a heartbreaking story of betrayal and neglect, but also one of friendship, hope, and trust - and Jack leads the way.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Author Gary Schmidt talks about Orbiting Jupiter in this short video:

Update: One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

From the Publisher:
In the wake of heart-breaking betrayal, Carley Connors is thrust into foster care and left on the steps of the Murphys, a happy, bustling family.

Carley has thick walls and isn't rattled easily, but this is a world she just doesn't understand.  A world that frightens her.  So, she resists this side of life she'd believed did not exist with dinners around a table and a "zip your jacket, here's you lunch" kind of mom.

However, with the help of her Broadway-obsessed and unpredictable friend, Toni, the Murphys do the impossible in showing Carley what it feels like to belong somewhere.  But, when her mother wants her back, will she lose the only family she has ever known?

My Thoughts:
In One for the Murphys, 12 year old Carley was repeatedly told by her mother to never cry, or people would think she is weak.  This admonishment makes Carley's life in foster care very difficult.

Now, Carley has closed herself off from feeling any real emotion, covering up her hidden feelings with a smart mouth, a mouth that provoked her stepfather enough to badly beat both Carley and her mother.  But in foster care with the Murphys, Carley may have met her match in Mrs. Murphy.  Mrs. Murphy is the exact opposite of Carley real mother, in fact, she seems to be an almost too good to be true wife and mother, and she refuses to give up on Carley, no matter what Carley's says or how badly Carley acts out - and there is some pretty (understandably) bad acting out at times.  Turns out, Mrs. Murphy has a secret that just may to the trick. 

One of the themes in One for the Murphys is about heroes. The youngest Murhpy boy is obsessed with superheroes, so much so that he has a sign hanging in his bedroom (where Carley now sleeps) that says Be Someone's Hero.  But not all heroes need super powers to be someone's hero, and this idea becomes a theme that runs throughout the novel and a constant sad reminder to Carley that she does not have a hero in her life and secretly wants one - very badly.

Hunt's characters are well done, having both dimension and personality.  Mr. Murphy is a fire fighter and away from home much of the time, leaving his wife with lots of time to focus on Carley.  Unlike his wife, he is not really happy to have a foster child in his home; the eldest boy resents Carley, but the younger two rather like her.  And it is Carley who teaches her friend Toni, obsessed with the play Wicked, to not judge a person based on appearances, throwing the message of Wicked right back at Toni.  They are all realistically drawn and likable in their own way.

Of course, at the heart of the novel is Carley's inner emotional struggle.  Though she still loves her mother, she must face the fact that her mother may have played a part when she was beaten by her stepfather.  Carley knows that she will go back to her mother and she must come to terms with the fact that her mother is never going to be the kind of mother Mrs. Murphy is.  It's a tall order for a young girl.

One for the Murphs is Lynda Mullaly Hunt's first MG novel, and it turns out to be one of those middle grade books that is really a must read.    I liked it very much, and feel the underlying message is one we can all take away with us:

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was obtained from the publisher.

UPDATE: One for the Murphys now has a very nice teacher's guide available here

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday is a weekly event hosted by Shannon at Books, Ramblings and Plenty of Shenanigans