Sharon G. Flake

The narrator of this story of poverty and pluck is an endearing thirteen-year-old named Raspberry Hill. Her mom named her after the fruit because of her red hair, red eyebrows “and enough freckles on my face that you can play connect the dots.” Raspberry and her mom live in the projects “with gangbangers and junkies” but they try to make the best of it.

They used to have a home and a nuclear family, but Raspberry’s dad started using drugs and sold all their things. When he started show more beating her mom, they moved out. It wasn’t long until the money ran out and they were sleeping on the street. Now at least they have a roof over their heads but it’s not a good situation. So Raspberry has become obsessed with making money to help them get out. And she’s good at it. She works hard and saves and stashes money in her room. She says:

"…as long as I got two hands, I ain’t never living in the street no more. Ain’t never gonna be broke, neither.”

Her momma helps her keep her dreams alive:

"‘One day,’ she’d say, ‘we gonna have our own place. With a family room, and a fireplace. What color room you want? Yeah, I figured you’d want blue…but what about letting me paint some clouds on the walls for you? And a few stars, so we don’t forget that even bad times is sprinkled with a little good,’ she’d say, reaching up at the sky like she was gonna grab a fistful of stars and hand ‘em to me.”

Raspberry scrounges food, scrounges money, resells pencils, washes cars, cleans houses, and does whatever she can while her mom works three jobs. But living in the projects means you’re at constant risk, and one day, everything falls in on them; their money is gone, their apartment has become unsafe, and they are back where they started.

Discussion: The author has a wonderful way of bringing the problems of severe poverty to life without miring the readers in a black hole of depression. She fills out her story with Raspberry’s observations of her girlfriends, cute boys at school, and the cares of adolescence that transcend economic boundaries. She shows the occasional cruelty of kids as well as their unexpected kindnesses, all without seeming to impose any value judgments: these are just kids, she seems to say.

But in the end, after you close the book, and think what a good book, and sit back on your comfortable chair in your nice, safe house, you can’t stop thinking: why shouldn’t everyone who works hard have a safe place to live and enough food and clothes to survive? What you see so clearly in this book is the sucking whirlpool of poverty that drags you back down even as you struggle to get out of its grasp. There is so little room to maneuver at the margin; if you get sick or get robbed or break your arm or your car breaks down or any of the things that the middle classes can accommodate, down you slide back to the bottom. A few get a lucky push or pull at the edge of the abyss to escape the vortex. But generally there aren’t any friends or relatives in your milieu who can help you start to climb back out again. Something isn’t right about that.

Evaluation: Flake is a talented writer. For this book, she won the Coretta Scott King Honor Award and five additional honors, and some of her other books have garnered even more accolades. (See the amazing list of awards on her website, here.) Raspberry Hill is a girl really not too unlike Anne of Green Gables. No matter what happens, she picks herself up and concentrates on the positive and on what she needs to do next. You won’t regret getting to know her. In my opinion, Flake strikes a marvelous balance by bringing the problems of poverty to the young readers’ attention with a light touch, gentle humor and a charming protagonist. show less

Maleeka is in seventh grade and deals with bullies giving her a hard time about her clothes (sewn by her mother after her father's death) and her dark skin. Even her best "friend" Char is trouble, but Maleeka keeps her head down because Char's attention and changes of clothes are all that keep her from being picked on even more. But then a teacher with a light patch on her face who also draws the kids' attention takes an interest in Maleeka. Will she be able to fit in her own skin and stand show more up to the bullies?

Though the book originally came out over 20 years ago, its themes of accepting yourself and standing up for what's right are just as relevant as ever. Maleeka's doubt, fear, and gradual growth unfold naturally in the course of this quiet, character-driven story. show less

Narrated by Bahni Turpin. This is rather violent for a children's book (murders, kidnapping, guns) although not graphic. It's not just about Harrison and Davenport working in collusion but also dips into civil rights, women's rights, WW2, treatment of blacks in the military, discrimination, "passing," and even Octobia May's heart condition. Maybe that's partly why I had trouble tracking the narrative in audio...so many things going on. Aside from that Octobia May's irrepressible nature comes show more alive in Turpin's narration. show less

In 1953, young Octobia May lives with her aunt Shuma who runs a boardinghouse, and she's convinced that Mr. Davenport, far from being the reliable boarder and war hero he appears to be, is actually a vampire. Her friend Jonah's mother thinks she's been allowed to get above her place as a young Black (the word of the time would be "colored") girl, and she has far too good of an imagination. But Octobia May already died once and she's come back strong, determined to make her way in the world.

I show more particularly like the narrator of the audiobook, Bahni Turpin, who does a fabulous job with a variety of characters, from young Octobia to an Irish cop. The story itself is sometimes episodic but also has this mystery of Mr. Davenport threaded throughout, which made it include an awful lot and became hard for me to follow on audio. There are details I picked up on early as an adult that wouldn't have been so obvious to a young reader, such as "passing." Other times, I recognize I would've liked it better reading it as a child - the ending is completely over the top and I couldn't quite shut off my analytical brain and just enjoy the adventure. show less