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A review by charlietheninth
The Family Fletcher Takes Rock Island by Dana Alison Levy
5.0
There are so many things to live about this series - its casual diversity, the way it feels like a Ramona or Superfudge for the 21st century, the positive, loving male role models present throughout - but I want to touch on one part of the story in particular.
One of the kids, Jax, is black, and his dads are white. When Jax and a friend are caught spying on a shady businessman, Jax is immediately called a criminal and accused of pick-pocketing. When his white dad arrives, however, everybody tries to back pedal, because as his dad notes, if Jax were an eleven-year-old white boy, everyone would have just assumed he was nosy, and not a criminal.
I've never seen a kids book call something like that out. I've also never seen what follows: for the rest of the book, Jax is not really himself. He can't really put it into words, but he feels shaken and like he doesn't really belong in their world anymore.
This isn't an issue book, or a racism book, it's a fun family adventure book. What happens to Jax is just one part of the summer, which is realistic. And it effects him deeply, which is also realistic.
I had to ask my purchasing librarian to order this book about eight times, but I'm glad I did because I'm so excited to hand this around.
One of the kids, Jax, is black, and his dads are white. When Jax and a friend are caught spying on a shady businessman, Jax is immediately called a criminal and accused of pick-pocketing. When his white dad arrives, however, everybody tries to back pedal, because as his dad notes, if Jax were an eleven-year-old white boy, everyone would have just assumed he was nosy, and not a criminal.
I've never seen a kids book call something like that out. I've also never seen what follows: for the rest of the book, Jax is not really himself. He can't really put it into words, but he feels shaken and like he doesn't really belong in their world anymore.
This isn't an issue book, or a racism book, it's a fun family adventure book. What happens to Jax is just one part of the summer, which is realistic. And it effects him deeply, which is also realistic.
I had to ask my purchasing librarian to order this book about eight times, but I'm glad I did because I'm so excited to hand this around.