Kirkwood Public Library: Shannon's Hot Takes, December 2021: Family Matters

Press release from the Kirkwood Public Library:

Shannon McLean

Jan 12, 2022

You know what makes writing blogs about books easier (at least for me)? Choosing a theme for the month and then reading books that fit that theme. Also, I like making themed lists (come into the Teen Room and check out our Book List binder and you will see!), so this is a natural progression of that. Therefore, I have decided that this is what I am going to do from now on–and for the month of December I chose to read books about family. At first, I thought about choosing holiday books, but to be honest, there aren’t a lot of teen books about or taking place during the winter holidays. Besides, the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s always seems to me to be a family-oriented time, you know? The three books I read deal with different types of family issues–living up to a father’s legacy, absent parents, found family, the bond between sisters, and parents keeping secrets being some of them. These stories definitely made me want to hug my parents and siblings, and to appreciate the relationship I have with them. What books have you read that are about families? Let me know in the comments!

So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C. Morrow

This title is one of the first in a series of “Remixed Classics,” published by Feiwel & Friends that I have been looking forward to since I heard about the whole thing. As the website for the series states, “In the Remixed Classics series, authors from diverse backgrounds take different literary classics from centuries past and reinterpret them through their own unique cultural lens. This collection will serve YA readers as both a series of fun, engaging reads as well as a subversive overall look at what our society has deemed ‘classic’ — works that are overwhelmingly cishet, white, and male.” Sounds awesome, right? I remember reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott as a girl, and was excited to see how Bethany C. Morrow molded that story into something uniquely her own. No offense to the classic novel, but I prefer this one.

The book begins in 1863 with the Civil War still raging, and the newly-freed March family attempting to build a life of their own in the Freedmen’s Colony of Roanoke Island. They have four daughters–Meg, who longs to get married and have children; Jo, who starts writing down the sentences she always used to compose in her head; Beth, a seamstress suffering from a mysterious illness; and Amy, a dancer who doesn’t ever want to stay still. They deal with the absence of their father, the hard work involved in creating a community from the ground-up, and the trauma from their enslavement. The sisters grow and change, but always have their love for each other to rely on.

I learned so much from this novel. I had never even heard of the Freedmen’s Colonies. In fact, I don’t remember learning anything about the experiences of newly-freed Black people in my many years of education. There is so much more to be learned about the experience of African Americans during and after the Civil War, and novels like this can help shine a light on how much we are not taught. Beth’s illness was another example of something I did not know much about (it’s not stated on the page, but it is sickle cell disease), and I looked up more about it because of this book. I loved Morrow’s take on the Jo and Laurie relationship–I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say it highlights an under-represented part of the population. And Amy! I actually liked her character in this book. I remember detesting her in the original novel. The highlight of the book really is the close relationship between the four sisters and their parents. Throughout all their trauma and struggles, they remain true to themselves and each other, and that was really beautiful. I believe everyone should read this book, especially if you love retellings and African American history.

I picked up this graphic novel based on the cover alone. A girl with red eyes, running with wolves?! Definitely something I needed to check out. I’m glad I did, because this was such a good bittersweet paranormal story about family, racism, and sacrifice.

This press release was produced by the Kirkwood Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.