Clouds Over California by Karyn Parsons (review)
2023; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 76; Issue: 11 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2023.a900365
ISSN1558-6766
ResumoReviewed by: Clouds Over California by Karyn Parsons Wesley Jacques Parsons, Karyn Clouds Over California. Little, 2023 [320p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780316484077 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780316497770 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 5-8 Stevie's parents haven't stopped fighting since they moved into their new house in Santa Monica, which hasn't made this difficult year any easier for the only Black girl in a new elementary school class that is full of kids who assault her afro hair while chanting a catchphrase from a Charmin commercial. Stevie has already lost a best friend to some mean girls, and with Mom thinking about going back to school despite Dad's protests, Stevie feels desperately alone, at least until her older cousin Naomi from Boston comes west to stay for good. Having a big sis in her life takes some getting used to, but Stevie is quickly won over by the supportive, outspoken, bully-confronting, Black Panther-curious, Chaka Khan-listening, boy-kissing, tight bell bottom-wearing, perfectly '70s cool girl Naomi. Even as Stevie's prudish Black Mom and conservative white Dad feel challenged by Naomi's disruptive politics (which are mostly centered on the then-radical idea that women and Black people deserve personal agency and political power), Stevie's world is being expanded in ways that make some of the everyday adversity she faces manageable. She narrates her own story with a healthy mix of believable naivete and enviable emotional maturity as she turns twelve and starts junior high with an outlook readers have reason to be optimistic about, despite so much to remain enraged by in this pointed period piece. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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