Richie's Picks: Great Books for Children and Young Adults

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"And don't you think it's a crime
when time after time, people in the bottle."
--Gil Scott Heron

"When I can't stand it another second, I go crawling to Momma.
"Big mistake. She hasn't been sober one minute since the day she quit her job. 'How many times I gotta tell you? Nobody's working! We ain't got the money!'
" 'But Momma, if I keep playing, I can get a scholarship to Great Lakes. I wave my rumpled brochure. 'Mr. Hopewell says I got a real good chance. And look -- ninety percent of their graduates end up at Juillard. Don't you get it? I could --'
"Momma laughs, but not like she's amused. 'Martha, I hate to burst that bubble of yours, but people like us don't get into no Joo-lee-yard.'
" 'What? What people?' Perfectly frozen, I wait for her to say it.
" 'Jesus Christ, do I gotta spell it out? Poor people, Martha. Hillbillies. White trash.'
" 'I am not white trash!' I kick the closest chair. 'And if we're so damn poor, how come you can buy all that beer?' "

Fourteen year-old Martha has moved from funky rural rental to funky rural rental with Momma, but now she finds herself living in, "the bottom half of a roach-infested dump in one of the worst neighborhoods on the east side of Cleveland." They have moved in with Wayne, a "bigoted redneck" alcoholic whom Momma met and fell in love with during her (and Wayne's) most recent stint in detox and rehab. Wayne, who inherited the building they're occupying, rents out the upstairs to the Lindseys, a black family which includes the volatile Aunt Gloria, Aunt Gloria's elderly mother, the teen gangster son Anthony, Anthony's baby brother, Bubby, and Aunt Gloria's nephew, Jerome. Jerome is Martha's age and, as was also the case with Martha, skipped a grade when he was younger. Fourteen years earlier, Jerome's mother gave birth to him while in prison and then dumped him on Aunt Gloria before disappearing back into a life of addiction.

From the start, Martha is a sympathetic character. She is a bright, hardworking teenager who ignores Momma's and Wayne's (and Aunt Gloria's) racist-based demands to keep away from the smart and kindhearted Jerome. She forms an instant attachment with Bubby, a seriously neglected infant who is pretty much only being cared for by Jerome, and opens her mouth when she witnesses Aunt Gloria abusing the child. As a matter of fact, Martha is not often shy about opening her mouth, arguably a positive yet dangerous course of action when practiced by a young girl in an inner city public high school.

Martha is deeply into classical music. Her dead father taught her to play his violin when she was very young, and she exhibited natural talent until one day, years ago, when Momma torched the instrument during a drunk and angry outburst. Now the music teacher at Martha's new school offers her a chance to learn cello and dream big dreams if only she can come up with the twenty-five bucks per month to rent a cello...and if she can stay alive despite what is constantly happening to her at school, in Wayne's World, and in the treacherous neighborhood.

BEFORE, AFTER, AND SOMEBODY IN BETWEEN is an amazing action- and danger-filled plot-driven contemporary YA urban tale in which we find that alcoholic parents -- whether rich or poor -- can thoroughly poison their kids' lives, that it is not always easy to just say no, and that in the face of really bad stuff going down, some teens will make it to a better day while others are swallowed by the cracks.

"I've changed my face, I've changed my name
But no one wants you when you lose"
--Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, "Don't Give Up"

For me, this was one of those one-day 350-page marathon reading sessions: there was no way I could stop until I knew what was to become of Martha and a couple of dozen memorable characters surrounding her during the three -- before, after, and in between -- parts of her story.

Jeannine Garsee, who is an RN in an inner city hospital, is a member of the Classof2K7, an online collective of first-time YA and children's authors whose books are being released in the new year. BEFORE, AFTER, AND SOMEBODY IN BETWEEN sets quite a high standard for her classmates to follow.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
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BudNotBuddy@aol.com