Skip to main content

Operation Sisterhood

Image
By

By Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
New York: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2022. Fiction.

11-year-old Bo is used to her quiet, cozy life with her single mother in their one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx. But when Mum announces her engagement to Bill, who makes Mum smile more than she ever has, Bo knows that big changes are coming. Changes like a new stepsister named Sunday, a move to Harlem, a change to "free schooling" and a big new chosen family with two more sisters, twins named Lee and Lil, and their parents who share Bill's brownstone along with a slew of pets. Bo's new family is welcoming and happy to include her, but the transition is overwhelming for Bo -- especially since she feels like she never gets time alone with Mum anymore. Still, she begins to grow closer to her sisters as the girls plan a neighborhood block party to celebrate Mum and Bill's marriage.

This is a happy novel about a blended family coming together and discovering all the different definitions of what it means to be a family. Though the cast of characters is pretty sprawling, each of the family members stands out as a vibrant and relatable character. An extra sprinkle of Black Girl Magic and an authentic depiction of Black girlhood is especially welcome. Rhuday-Perkovich was inspired by other stories of big families living in New York City and this new family with Bo, Sunday, Lil, and Lee, is one that readers will certainly want to join.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Fowl Play

By
  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Alice with a Why

By
Alice with a Why By Anna James New York: Penguin, 2026. Fiction. 240 pgs. In 1919, in the aftermath of the first World War, Alyce is living with her grandmother in the English countryside. Her grandmother, also named Alice, tells Alyce (with a y) stories from her childhood adventures in a wonderful land filled with white rabbits and mad hatters. Alyce doesn't really believe the silly stories, she just misses her father who was killed in the war. One day, Alyce receives a mysterious invitation to tea, and subsequently falls into a pond where she is transported to Wonderland. Her grandmother, of course, is that Alice. Alyce is prompted by the Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and March Hare to seek out the Time Being and put an end to the war between the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon. Thus begins Alyce's adventure through Wonderland. I have a certain soft spot for the original story of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my particular favorites and I often have a hard time reading new int...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Blood in the Water

By
Blood in the Water By Tiffany D. Jackson New York: Scholastic, 2025. Fiction. 255 pages. 12-year-old Kaylani McKinnon can't help but feel like a fish out of water. She's a Brooklyn girl spending her summer on Martha's Vineyard surrounded by wealthy family friends in their mansion. All she really wants is to stay home all summer where she her incarcerated father can easily reach her, and she can keep working to find ways to prove him innocent of fraud and embezzlement. Despite her protests, she finds herself on the island with the snooty granddaughters of her host. Soon after Kaylani's arrival, a popular teen boy is found murdered and she decides to conduct her own investigation. As she tries to discover what happened to Chadwick Cooper, Kaylani finds that not everything on Martha's Vineyard is as perfect as it appears. Thrillers for middle grade readers can be hard to find, but Tiffany D. Jackson succeeds in her first middle grade novel. A quick moving plot, tight d...
Post a Comment
Read more