Madeleine's Childrens Lit Blog

Authenticity & accuracy 

I want to start off by saying how much I enjoyed this book. At first, I felt a little daunted by the length of the book, but as soon as I started reading, I was quickly sucked into the story!

 

I didn't check the race or the gender of author before starting reading. As I read, I just assumed that Varian must be an African American female. As he was writing for the main character, Candice, I couldn't help but think about how authentic and believable he made the character. I like how Candice seems to struggle with things that many preteens struggle with. As a young African American girl, Candice is having to deal with her parents divorce, racism, making new friends and bullying.

 

As I was reading from Varian's blog post on his website about his inspiration writing the book, I could see how some of his experiences shaped the story of the book. On the blog, Varian retells a story about his brother and himself in an airport when they were teenagers. A police officer accused Varian and his brother of being drug smugglers, when in reality, Varian was simply picking up his brothers from the airport following a trip to a leadership conference. The brothers were also co-validictorians at their high school. Obviously, they were't drug smugglers. Their race was ultimately was attracted the police offer to them. Situations like these must have inspired Varian to write about some of what happens in the book. I can really see the parallels in the airport story, and when Brandon and Candice get in trouble in the library with Mr. Rittenhaur. Mr. Rittenhaur wrongly accused the kids of breaking into the library, when in reality they had full permission to be there. The assistant principle was confronted by Brandon and Candice's mothers as this was not his first time coming down way too hard on African American kids. After Mr. Rittenhaur behaves inappropriately, you can obviously tell both kids are very shaken up and confused. This experience was written about in a very accurate fashion, and that made it all that much more enjoyable/interesting to read about

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"As I wrote The Parker Inheritance, I found myself thinking even more about the power of perception. How it could be a danger to those without power . . . and also how we could manipulate that perception to create a level playing field. What if we dressed in a different way? Talked in a different way? Had different friends? How much of yourself is worth giving up if it allows you a chance to be successful? To live without fear? To survive?"   - Varian Johnson

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I additionally appreciated all the mentions and focus on African American church culture, Juneteenth and southern small town life. Because of Varian's upbringing in a small town (Florence, SC), he is able to give a authentic and accurate to his audience.

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Visual and verbal sensitivity 

As I read the book, I noticed how that there was a special sensitivity to certain topics and situations. One of the topics that was handled was Quincy's sexuality. At the beginning of the book the reader is informed that Brandon is bullied. Milo refers to Brandon's friend in the book, Quincy. Quincy has gone to live with his grandparents for the summer to get out of Lambert. By the end of the book, Brandon explains that Quincy is gay. One thing that I appreciated about the book is that Varian wrote that Quincy was gay, not confused, not weird... Quincy might only be 11 but he knows who he is. I think that this sets a great precedent for kids as they begin to explore who they are at a young age. Although the book is realistic about the struggles that could come with coming out in middle school, it doesn't focus too much on Quincy's sexuality.

 

Additionally, Candice questions Brandon's sexuality. As I was reading the beginning of the book, I noticed that a book Brandon mentions to Candice is Are You There God It's Me, Margaret.  I read this book as a preteen, and I have to say that I was taken aback that an 11 year old boy would enjoy this book. Part of me wondered, maybe Varian enjoyed books like this when he was young. I tried to do some research, but I couldn't find anything. But, in my research,  I did find the books that Varian has written. Varian has written several books from the perspective of a female character. He has even written a book for the American Girl doll Gabriella. 

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After I saw that Varian had written many books that would mostly likely be read by girls, I wondered about his sexual orientation. I read the back of my book to find that Varian has a wife, Krystal. This book (and Varian has an author) has changed my thinking about authors personal preference in writing, and what that truly reflect about them. Just because Brandon read certain books, just because Varian wrote a book for an American Girl doll doesn't mean that they are gay. Just like women (example: JK Rowling) can write books with main male characters, men can do the same. I doubt that JK Rowling's sexual orientation has been called out because of Harry. Why do we encourage girls to dress like firefighters, police force (jobs that are typically associated with men) but scorn boys when they try on a princess dress? I enjoyed that the book left Brandon's preferences a mystery... Because at the end of the day, does it change his character? One of my favorite parts of the book was when Candace's dad comes out to Candace. After they sorted out some of the confusion and secrets, Candace's dad asks Candace about Brandon.

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"What about Brandon? Do you still think he's gay?"

"I don't know for sure, but I don't think it really matters," Candice said. 

Her father winked. "That's my girl."

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Additionally, I noticed that certain words that could have been used to embelish the story (mainly about African Americans and LGBT) were not used. Although I believe there is a time and place to educate, its nice that the pages of the book don't throw you into a conversation with your students simply because students are reading the words. 

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Ideology 

Overall, I think this book has a lot ideology that you can tell has sprouted from Varian's own experiences in his life. As you read the book as whole, you can see that Varian is trying to fight off stereotypes that women and men of color face every day. One part of the book that really stuck out to me was the racism between African Americans. Often, I think of racism as white people vs. people of color. This however, is not true. Even people within the same race group can discriminate against each other. I found that this to be apparent within the story of Reggie and Big Dub. You can tell that Varian is trying to communicate through his writing that although people might seem as if they have come from the same background, people always bring prejudice with them as they live and interact with people. 

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I noticed also that Varian tries to break down the stereotypes of many parts of African American culture. Candace comes from a background of wealth, instead of a background of poverty (I have noticed in many books this seems to be the story for African American characters). Brandon is a preteen boy who enjoys reading books that might be seen as "girl books." Candace's father is come out to her later in his life. These can all be linked to the authors ideology on topics such as LGBT rights, family dynamics, African American culture and more. 

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Throughout the book, Varian is careful to include thoughtful storylines, dynamic characters and situations that are both relevant and historic. 

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Citations 

                                                                                                                                                                           

Johnson, Varian. The Parker Inheritance (2018). New York. Arthur A. Levine Books

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