One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Delphine, Vonetta and Fern have been sent from Brooklyn to Oakland to spend the summer with the mother who left them. Cecile doesn't seem to want them there. Every morning, she sends the girls away to the Black Panthers' summer camp to keep them out of her hair. Delphine is used to taking care of her younger sisters, but she can't protect them from Cecile's distant behavior. As the girls make new friends at the community center, they learn about more than just revolution and equality. They learn about who they are, and about how they can be a stronger family.

This is an aspect of the Civil Rights movement that doesn't usually make it into children's historical fiction. For that alone, I'd recommend this book. But for all the mention of the Panthers and their agenda, this is, at its heart, a book about identity and family. I think most readers will identify with Delphine's struggle to find her place in her world and in her family.

*One Crazy Summer is the winner of the Coretta Scott King award and a Newbery Honor book for 2011.

Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Lonnie and Lili's parents were killed in a fire, and their social worker was unable to get them placed in the same foster home. They still get to see one another from time to time, and in between visits, Lonnie writes letters to Lili. He tells her about school, about his foster family, and about their life before, so she won't forget.

Lonnie's letters explore the issue of how families are created. Lonnie loves his foster mother and his foster brothers, and Lili loves her foster mother as well. Is Miss Edna becoming Lonnie's Mama, like his friend Clyde says? Is it okay for Lili to call her foster mother Mama, even though they already had a Mama of their own? Can Lonnie and Lili still be a family, even though they've each found a new family to love?

Easily the sweetest book published this year, Peace, Locomotion is a book for anyone who's ever pondered the idea of how far family can stretch.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

It's the strangest thing. One minute, Mia was enjoying a weekend drive with her family. The next, she was standing by the side of the road looking down at her own mangled body. She watches from outside herself as the paramedics load her into an ambulance, and whisk her away to the trauma unit. Now, Mia faces the most difficult decision of her life. Should she wake herself from the coma and face life alone? Or should she let herself go and rejoin her lost family?

The emotional punches in this book hit in just the right places. Mia's love for her parents and devotion for her brother make it very convincing that she'd want to die with them rather than live alone; her love for her best friend, boyfriend and grandparents provide valid reasons for her to stay. Her dilemma is very real, and not at all the angst-fest it could have turned out to be.

Mia's story is an examination of not just one life, but of how the lives of people who love each other intersect. It's not just Mia's life that passes before her as she tries to make this impossible decision. Her life is inextricably tied to the lives of the people who love her, which makes her choice all the more difficult. Ms. Forman manages to make this book both bittersweet and feel-good, which is a feat in itself. I'd highly recommend this one.

Perpetual Check by Rich Wallace

Zeke Mansfield is a senior who dominated his school's chess team for three years. His brother Randy is the freshman who took Zeke's place at the top. At first glance, the brothers couldn't be more different. Zeke's an athlete who brings his competitive spirit with him to the chess board. Randy quit sports in first grade and never looked back. When both brothers are selected to compete in a regional chess tournament, it's time for them to see which Mansfield is really the better player.

 

Zeke starts out as a truly unlikable character. He's always been told he's great at sports, and he's let the compliments go to his head. He's got an excuse for every loss, and nothing is ever his fault. Once we meet the boys' father, however, we catch a glimpse of why Zeke has come to think this way. Mr. Mansfield is all about being the best, and he's taught his older son to think the same way he does. Randy, on the other hand, is they guy everyone wants to be friends with. He takes a genuine interest in the people he talks to, and it tends to draw people to him.

 

During the weekend of the chess tournament, Zeke is given the unique opportunity of watching both Randy and his father. For the first time, he begins to see the differences between himself and his brother, and he's given the chance to decide which man he'd rather be.

 

I enjoyed this book, but I didn't think it was quite as strong as it could have been. For all the family changes and big life decisions that were made, there didn't seem to be very much build-up. The book is only 112 pages long, and I think it would have been worth the little extra length to add in a bit more character development. But overall, it was an enjoyable read.

Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata

Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata is a book about the love of an unconventional family.

Helen Kimura has four daughters with four different men. Her daughters, like the various men in her life, are in awe of her beauty, and Helen uses that beauty to get whatever she wants out of men. She gives lessons on beauty to her daughters, but awkward Shelby despairs of ever being a beauty like her mother or her sister Marilyn.

When their mother is in a horrible car accident, Shelby and her sisters face two unthinkable circumstances; the loss of their mother's beauty to facial scarring, and their separation while she recovers in the hospital. Beautiful Marilyn is sent across town to her father, Mack. Brainy Lakey is sent to California to stay with her father Larry, the only man her mother ever really loved. Shelby and Maddie, the youngest child and family darling, are sent to Arkansas. For the first time, Shelby has the opportunity to get to know her father, Jiro. Her happiness with Jiro is dimmed when her letters from Maddie turn strange, appearing almost robotic. Realizing that Maddie's father, Mr. Bronson, is stifling her personality, and likely verbally abusing her, Shelby and her sisters take extreme action to get Maddie back.

The characterization in this story is extraordinarily well done. While Helen is exactly the type of woman we all hated in high school, her daughters are warm and loving, and they are able to learn that there is more to a person than outward appearance. The four fathers, likewise, are extremely well written, their personalities and motivations immediately evident.

This book is touching and well written, and I would recommend it to anyone who has ever had a sister.