Last Summer on State Street

Adult fiction 

     I found Toya Wolfe's Last Summer on State Street in my library's adult section but see it as also being appropriate for more mature YA readers.  Although the author is writing from an adult remembering perspective and there are sex and violence themes, she vividly describes the experiences, thoughts, and feelings of a twelve-year-old.

     Was there ever a specific point in your growing up years when your life seemed to change drastically?  Maybe your family moved.  Maybe it changed in composition by childbirth, death, divorce, or remarriage.  Maybe it was simply the step up to middle school, high school, or college.  

     Fefe (Felicia) describes the momentous changes that occur in her life in the summer between sixth and seventh grade.  She's grown up in a notorious Chicago housing project.  Robert Taylor Homes have deteriorated in every sense of the word since their promising opening in the sixties.  In the summer of 1999 they are being demolished one by one with residents scrambling to find affordable replacement housing. 

     Fifi's world centers around her family and her small friendship circle.  She and religion centered Precious have been besties 💓 since kindergarten.  Stacia, one of the kids in a large, gangster, drug dealing family, moved into their building at the end of their fifth grade year.  Now Fifi is trying to introduce a newcomer, Tonya, into their circle.  But, if anything, this is splintering the group.

     Gunfights between rival groups are such routine occurrences Fifi's family has a drill to follow to stay out of the way of bullets.  The aftermath of incidents also holds danger for residents.  Uniformed white police officers stomp through the buildings, tearing apartments apart and arresting Black residents on any charges they can think of.  You can tell that they see the people they're supposed to protect and serve as less than human beings who need to be locked up.

     Fifi's brother, Meechie, has just gone through his teen growth spurt.  Suddenly in the eyes of law enforcement he's become the dangerous other.  One night he's pulled from his bed and taken to the police station.  Although his family is able to take him home, he's given up.  Not long afterwards he's jumped into a gang.

     This coming of age narrative of a preteen girl seeing her world implode as she is pushed into a precarious, unknown future is highly engaging and thought provoking.  

     But you don't have to take my word for it.  Alex Kotlowitz, who has written a number of powerful books about living in Chicago's toughest neighborhoods, says, "Filled with both tenderness and tragedy, this moving tale of friendship and family pulls us into a corner of America too long neglected and scorned.  Wolfe writes with such grace and such restraint, I felt like I was sitting on the front porch listening to a story told by a friend."

On a purrrsonal note, I had a wonderful volunteering 🙋‍♀️ day yesterday.  I started out with Upward Bound, packing the last of the clothes that will go over to the summer dorm and getting the rest of the room back in shape.  Then I did 4 hours shelf reading at the juvenile wing of Orono Public Library.  Finally I volunteered with Friends of OPL at a children's concert.  The Darlings free ice cream truck was there.  The ice cream is free and people are encouraged to donate to the cause of the day.  In this case it was Friends to help them provide quality programs for children and adults.  I wore one of their ice cream cone 😋 with sprinkles costumes.  I was supposed to hand out Friends flyers.  But plenty of people were doing that and nobody was taking pictures.  So I was paparazzi.  Sure enough when I offered my pictures to the library and the friends group they both wanted them for social media.  Also I kept getting ice cream.  I bought 5:  two 🍉 pops, 2 strawberry shortcakes 🍰, and a neon colored swirl cone.  Their ice cream is just the cat's pajamas.  (Jules)

Just glad it wasn't 🌧 out.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out the Darlings Ice Cream for a Cause team.  Do you know that since 2012 they've raised over $491,000 for local Maine organizations and causes in the most delightful way possible?

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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