Published by Nancy Paulsen Books on August 28th, 2018
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 192
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
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Jacqueline Woodson's first middle-grade novel since National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming celebrates the healing that can occur when a group of students share their stories.
It all starts when six kids have to meet for a weekly chat—by themselves, with no adults to listen in. There, in the room they soon dub the ARTT Room (short for "A Room to Talk"), they discover it's safe to talk about what's bothering them—everything from Esteban's father's deportation and Haley's father's incarceration to Amari's fears of racial profiling and Ashton's adjustment to his changing family fortunes. When the six are together, they can express the feelings and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world. And together, they can grow braver and more ready for the rest of their lives.
I don't read a whole lot of middle-grade literature simply because it's not for me. Not that I think it's below me or too juvenile or simple. But because sometimes you're just not the target audience for a piece of media, and that is okay. But this is Jacqueline Woodson, so I had to. I just had to. I've read some of her books in the past and they've always been great, so I knew this wouldn't disappoint.
I have to say Harbor Me was also not written for me. I'll never have to experience the things these kids are forced to see every day. My family is not at risk for deportation, my parents are not in prison, and I certainly don't have to endure racism everywhere I go. I think it'd be easy for someone with privilege like me to write this book off, but I really hope that those of you who are in that position take a different path. I think this book is the perfect outlet, especially for kids, to learn different perspectives and to see themselves on the page. This book doesn't shy away from these heavy topics at all. Esteban's father disappears on the way to work one night only to resurface hundreds of miles away in a detention center. Tiago tells us about his beautiful, vibrant, Spanish-speaking mother, and how that colorful personality of hers is dimmed by the racist comments they receive on the street, just for talking to one another in their native tongue. Amari's father has to sit him down one day and explain to Amari that toy guns are off limits now, because of what happened to Tamir Rice. Harbor Me takes these stories some of us only see in the news, happening to other people, and puts a character, a story, a family to them.
The writing was beautiful, I loved these kids, and I thought the structure of the book was interesting. I loved the back and forth, past and present, of Haley's narration. She's living with her uncle, for now, while her father is in prison for vehicular manslaughter, a car crash that resulted in the death of Haley's mother. She visits her father in prison. She wonders about her mother. She loves her uncle as the only father figure she truly knows and has fears and anxieties about her father coming home and upending the life she's used to. While that's happening, she's relaying the last school year to the reader through memories and a sound recording device.
The only real flaw I saw in this book, which took me completely out of the story at times, it was so jarring, was the way the kids would talk. I understand dialect and slang; those weren't the problem. What I didn't like were the big, profound tangents these kids would go on. They were only in fifth and sixth grade, but they were speaking like philosophers. Like John Green characters. I mean, I know it's been some time since middle school, but I don't remember anyone talking this way when I was a kid. Some of it was so saccharine I had to roll my eyes a bit.
I hope this book reaches the people it needs to reach: the kids who are reflected in its pages. But I also hope others will pick it up, see the name Jacqueline Woodson, see all her awards, and read this book. It's timely. It's truthful and holds no punches. It's beautifully written and features a cast of kids who you can't help but want to love and protect.
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