The Crims by Kate Davies

The Crims by Kate Davies
Harper, 2017.

A mildly entertaining British novel about a family of absurdly incompetent criminals whose style reminded me of both David Baddiel’s The Parent Agency and Julian Clary’s The Bolds.

12 year old Imogen ran away to a fancy boarding school after the matriarch of the Crims was killed in a heist. However, when the rest of the family is jailed for the theft of a valuable lunch box, she feels obliged to return to help them out.

Davies does a competent job of delineating the numerous Crims by providing them with a defining trait: fearsome-looking Uncle Knuckles is really a gentle flower-loving man, Freddie is astonishingly absent-minded, Imogen’s father is an accountant who loves numbers and book-keeping, and so on. Imogen had developed an ambition to be a future world leader while at school, but now discovers that her love for her family and her suppressed criminal plotting genius outweighs that.

The silly situations, word play, and broad characters are somewhat reminiscent of Lemony Snicket, though the quips about grisly murders fall rather flat.

Judging by the open ending, the intention is to have a sequel in which the Crims take on the frighteningly competent Kruk family.

Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork

Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork
Levine/Scholastic, September 2017

I have enjoyed many of Francisco X. Stork’s YA novels, though have only reviewed one of them, The Memory of Light (2016),  for this blog. His nuanced take on modern Latinx teens is refreshing in our current climate.

Set in present day Ciudad Juarez, young adult siblings Sara and Emiliano confront crime and corruption with their consciences. Sara is a reporter for El Sol and has been working on stories about Desaparecidas – young women and girls who have disappeared and may have been murdered – inspired by the disappearance of her best friend Linda. She has received many threats because of this work but the latest one is worryingly specific and also threatens her family. Emiliano had gone off the rails when his father left several years ago, but with the help of Brother Patricio and a hiking/adventure  group called the Jiparis he is making a life for himself. The only problem is that his girlfriend, Perla Rubi comes from a wealthy family and he wants to be accepted by them and the road to acceptance seems to encompass compromising the moral code of the Jiparis.

Sara is a fairly straightforward crusading conscience-driven writer. Though she is faced with tough choices, there is little doubt that she will make the right one. Emiliano is much more complex and conflicted. He wants the material rewards of being part of the criminal world, though more for the security of his family than for the flashy cars but knows that he will be corrupted by this and will corrupt others, and these two sides wrestle within him the whole way through.

When I reviewed The Border a while ago, I complained that it fell into the ‘one story’ problem about Mexico – that it was all about drugs, corruption, and attempting to cross into the US. To an extent, there is a similar concern with this novel. The spiderweb of crime and complicity in Juarez is gradually revealed through Emiliano, with one brutal final twist. But there is another spiderweb of people who want to get by, and even fight back, compelled either by their religion or their personal convictions, and this web is shown to be equally strong, if less newsworthy. As Sara and Emiliano struggle to stay alive, this is the web that supports them and moves them towards safety.

Recommended for teen readers who are interested in getting a much fuller picture of life in contemporary Mexico.

My Year in the Middle by Lila Quintero Weaver

My Year in the Middle by Lila Quintero Weaver
Candlewick, July 2018.

Drawing from her own experience as an Argentinian in Alabama during the watershed years when schools were integrated, the author  has created a wonderful, lively, and warm-hearted story about 6th grader Lu Olivera, set in fictitious Red Grove, Alabama in 1970. In the first year that her school has included black students, Lu sits in the middle row of her classroom between the black kids and the white kids. Middle rowers don’t exactly belong to either group: “our moms and dads believe in equal rights and all that good stuff” which makes them “ weirdos” to some people.

Lu is torn between her previous unknowing comfortable old life when she was friends with white Abigail and Phyllis, and the scary new ground of being friends with black Belinda. She’s becoming politically aware as the election for the governor plays out between moderate Albert Brewer and racist George Wallace. Lu’s older sister, Marina, works for the Brewer campaign as well as being involved with the anti-Vietnam war campaign. On the personal front, Lu finds out that she is a really good runner which upsets the status quo at school and causes some conflict with her conservative parents. She is also attracted to white Sam, whose parents have been big supporters of integration and civil rights.

As more of the white kids move over to private white-only East Lake Academy, Lu finds she is no longer content with sitting in the middle – she has to take a stand. And she has to persuade her parents to let her go to track camp in the summer so she can join the track team with Belinda in 7th grade.

The author does a terrific job of showing Lu’s personal and political growth over the course of a few months, while keeping her voice entirely appropriate for a smart, curious, and slightly naive 12-year-old.

There is a lot going on in the novel, but the author skillfully weaves all the storylines together to give a whole picture of a young girl growing up at a challenging time in a challenging place and finding her own conscience. A great read for middle graders interested in social justice.

Thanks to Candlewick for the ARC.

The Key to Everything by Pat Schmatz

The Key to Everything by Pat Schmatz
Candlewick, May 2018.

This slight middle grade story packs a big emotional punch as it looks at how a young girl learns to cope with loss by leaning in to other people.

11-year old Tash has had a challenging early life which has left her with a deep fear of being alone and abandoned. With her father in jail, she now lives with her warm, kind Uncle Kevin, and the love and security he offers along with that of her elderly neighbor, Cap’n Jackie, means she always has someone to be with and can feel safe.

When her grandfather sends her off to a summer camp, Tash is fearfully reluctant to leave those two behind and be with people she doesn’t know, but to her surprise she loves it and feels transformed by the experience. On her return however, she discovers that Cap’n Jackie is in hospital and has withdrawn into herself. Can Cap’n Jackie’s magic key bring her home?

The author does a terrific job of creating empathy for the prickly Tash, a complex and challenging character who is still tussling with her early demons while stretching into her new post-camp persona. Schmatz is skilled in showing her evolution from fearful to confident and the emotional stops and starts along the way, while using believable middle grade language.

While not all readers will have suffered such major traumas in their lives, they will be able to relate to Tash’s grit in finding a way to deal with life when it doesn’t go to plan.

Thanks to Candlewick for the ARC.