Genre
I chose this book for the LGBTQ+ option in this age range.
Targeted Age Group
This book is targeted to ages 8-12.
Summary
Caroline Murphy is a young, lonely girl, bullied at school, who dreams of finding her mother. Then, Kalinda joins their school, and as the two become inseparable, suddenly Caroline isn’t so lonely: she has someone to help her find her mom, and along the way she’s experiencing the joy and pain of falling in love with someone.
Justification
I chose this book because I believe it’s important to read LGBTQ+ literature geared towards kids. Understanding these books, and how the topics inside are presented to young readers, is the first step to combatting censorship. Additionally, as a book about a Black and queer protagonist, this book is more likely to be challenged on library shelves. Apart from the aspects of identity represented in this book, it has a colorful, eye-catching cover, and an intriguing hook about love, ghosts, and luck.
Evaluation
This is one of the many books that I read physically. As much as I love a good audiobook, I’ve always preferred the feel of a physical book in my hands. As I read this book, I tried to pay attention to the experience of a physical reading: I always like to check and see how many pages I have left to go, mark page goals for me to reach, and flip back and forth between different parts of the book to make connections. I think the best thing that reading a physical book does for me is to ground me to the experience. My mind doesn’t wander as easily, and I’m not as distracted. Because the book is paper, I can’t swipe out of it to another app, or to a different book. I have to remain in the moment with it, and that keeps me connected to what is going on. I enjoyed reading this book, and I enjoyed paying attention to what I love about reading a physical book.
Caroline Murphy is the main character of this book. She’s a 12-year-old girl who lost her mother a year and a half ago, lives with her dad, and is “a very lonely little girl” (Callender, 2018, p. 51). Caroline’s loneliness clashes against her desire to be seen and understood by other people, and complicated by people’s racism (from both peers and adults), her ability to see ghosts, and her home that seems just as invisible as those ghosts. Callender (2018) explores Caroline’s conflicting environment and desires through her main goal, which is to find her mother again. Thus, as other characters enter Caroline’s life, they influence her ability to make that goal possible. One of these characters is Kalinda, a young girl the same age as Caroline. Kalinda is charismatic, mysterious, fun, but also capable of hurt. These two main characters of Callender’s (2018) novel create a dynamic that is a beautiful homage to friendship, first love, and forgiveness.
Whether or not Caroline will be able to find her mother is the driving point of this novel. And, in the periphery all the way through, is the woman in black. This ghost-like figure pulls Caroline to achieve this goal, because of her increased presence since her mom left. These two threads weave together through all of Caroline’s experiences. Because Caroline’s mom is missing, the woman in black is like an ever-present question mark, filling the space in Caroline’s life with shadow as a reminder of that question. Caroline’s determination to answer that question is clear especially in the beginning, when she states, “I knew it before. Knew it then. Still know it now. I have to find her” (Callender, 2018, p. 17). Part of what makes this question and journey so compelling isn’t just that her mom is missing, but it’s Caroline’s strong love for her mom, love for their memories together, and that this love persists in spite of obstacles and fears. The plot of this book is a testament to the driving force that is love, which brings me to the theme of this book.
The theme of Callender’s (2018) novel is that embracing love will bring the people you care about close to you. Caroline, more than anything, wants to love and be loved: she wants to find her mother who she loves, and she wants to tell Kalinda how she feels about her. Early in the book, Miss Joe, the head of Caroline’s school, tells her that she needs to learn to live without her mother. Caroline quietly keeps her true response to herself: “There’s just no way that’s going to happen, because even if my dad and Miss Joe are fine with letting go of people they love, I’m not. And I never will be” (Callender, 2018, p. 59). Caroline remains true to this conviction throughout the book. Her unending love for a lost mother, her love for Kalinda, and her complicated love for her father push her through many difficult and cruel moments of life, but ultimately result in finding the love that she has been seeking. The mix of bittersweet and happy at the end of this novel will leave readers satisfied, knowing that Caroline held strong to her sense of love all the way through. Happy reading!
References
Callender, K. (2018). Hurricane child. Scholastic Press.
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