Blended

Blended

Juvenile fiction
"It's Sunday. I hate Sundays. I hate, hate, hate them. Even
when I'm a wrinkled old lady, Sunday will always remind me of a worn,
gray, fake-leather sofa at the mall. It's where Dad sits to wait for
me when it's his turn for custody for the week. Mom waits on the same
couch on the opposite week. The stupid sofa never changes--just the
faces of the grown-ups who come to claim me. I'm pretty sure my
parents hate Sundays too."
I'm sure any of us who are parents with shared custody or were
children mandated to split loyalties between two very different
households can relate to the thoughts [quoted above] of Isabella,
protagonist of Sharon Draper's Blended. Her parents have grown apart
and split up. For awhile her father lived hundreds of miles away.
Visits were few and far between.
Now Isabella's dad and his new family have moved to her home
town. Visitation rules have been renegotiated in court. She has a
separate room, wardrobe, backpack, nickname, and persona in each
household. And often at the drop off point or when they have to
interact by phone her parents behave very badly.
Family isn't the only complexity in Isabella's life. Her father
is black; her mother is white. People describe her as blended. She
is very unsure of what that makes her.
And then a black friend finds a noose in her gym locker.
Once again Draper has hit it out of the ball park with a story
that younger readers will find captivating and thought provoking.
On a purrrsonal note, yesterday [Saturday] I was going to study all
day. But then I went to the hospital to see my mother-in-law. So
today I was going to study all day. You know what they say about the
best laid plans. When I woke up my partner wanted to know if I wanted
to go to Dennys for breakfast and then for a ride. School is a
priority but so is family. We had an awesome breakfast. I had
pancakes with banana cream and warm salted caramel sauce. Heavenly.
We drove around Maine enjoying the fabulous fall foliage. At
Greenville I bought a card with a jeweled butterfly pin that says my
wings already exist; all I have to do is fly for my studio. That
describes my life apart from missing Joey cat. We saw a bunch of cute
young turkeys. We saw some amazing classic cars from the 50s. I
talked to the drivers. We got sandwiches and chips for lunch. Closer
to home we got ice creams at a place that was about to close for the
season. It was a very good day.
Tomorrow? No promises.
Great big shout outs go out to Eugene and to the best little cat in
the world who I wish I could have come home to.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod