Every Single Second

Every Single Second

Juvenile fiction
"But really? Most of life didn't feel that way. Where and when
you were born. Who you got for parents. Whether you were pretty or
not, smart or not, black or white or brown. Whether you happened to be
at the wrong place at the wrong time and made one mistake and
afterward nothing was ever the same...What if God only tricked people
into thinking they had choices? He was God. He could do whatever he
wanted."
Nella, protagonist of Tricia Springstubb's Every Single Second,
is growing up in a very segregated area, symbolized as a steep hill
where there's a big gap between the well off at the top and the poor
at the bottom, blacks and whites. There's also a lot to deal with in
the lives of her family and friends.
Her father was waylaid from a college future by a very bad
decision he made as a teen.
Her cantankerous great grandmother has been silenced by a stroke
that may be partly Nella's fault.
Her once best friend and secret sister, Angela, may be being
abused by her father, a vet who suffers from PTSD. Angela's mother
has fled the scene.
Angela's beloved older brother and only protector, Anthony, is
behind bars. He shot a black man who was seeking help after an auto
accident, believing him to be trying to break into a neighbor's house.
Nella's parochial school has been shut down. Her new best
friend, Clem, has passed the entrance exam to a magnet school while
she is doomed to a local and not well regarded public one.
What's a girl to do?
Read the book and see.
On a personal note, right before break we had a panel of UMaine
student activist groups. There were eight of us on the panel. I
represented Real Food Challenge dressed as a bumblebee. I think it
went really well.
A great big shout out goes out to everyone who participated.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod