Miles from Motown

July 1, 2021
A 12-year-old Black girl is uprooted from her home during the summer before seventh grade. Georgia Johnson was prepared to spend the summer months of 1967 lip-syncing to records with best friend Ceci and spending time with her favorite aunt, Birdie. Those plans changed when her parents abruptly move the family from Detroit to Southfield, a predominately White and Jewish suburb, for reasons unknown to her. On the last day of school, Georgia's teacher encourages her to submit a poem to the Spirit of Detroit Poetry Contest; the catch is that contestants must live in Detroit, so Georgia uses Aunt Birdie's address. She begins to find her place in her new neighborhood as she is forced to attend a summer camp, where she befriends Naomi, a White girl. The Johnsons have a few brushes with racism in their new neighborhood. As she agonizes throughout the summer over when she might hear about the contest results--and over having lied about her residence without telling her family--Georgia frets about the possible consequences of her deception. This free verse, first-person novel may help middle-grade readers navigate changing friendships and moving to unfamiliar places. Unfortunately, the characters overall feel rather generic and lacking in texture. Georgia's daily accounting of events creates a steady pace, but coupled with the anticlimactic storyline, it makes for a monotonous tone. A slow story about facing change. (Historical verse novel. 11-14)

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August 1, 2021

Gr 4-6-It's the summer of 1967 and rising seventh grader Georgia's life is changing in this coming-of-age novel in verse. Her family is moving from Detroit to an unfamiliar suburb seven miles away. Even though the move isn't far, Georgia is upset that her parents won't tell her the reason for the move and is devastated to move away from her best friend Ceci, her Aunt Birdie, and her beloved Detroit neighborhood. At the end of the school year, Georgia entered the "Spirit of Detroit Poetry Contest" judged by her idol poet Gwendolyn Brooks-she had to lie to enter (it is only for residents of Detroit) by using Aunt Birdie's address. In her new neighborhood, Georgia makes friends with Naomi, her first white friend, who attends the same summer day camp but also faces racial bullying from some of the other kids in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, Georgia's oldest brother Ty is in Vietnam and her brother Jerome is also upset about the move and having to switch schools prior to his varsity senior year baseball season. Juggling being the new kid in town, balancing friends old and new, and trying to intercept the contest announcement from her aunt's mailbox keeps Georgia busy. Lyrical prose keeps the story moving and readers will be rooting for Georgia to win. Georgia and her family are Black and Naomi is white. Their new neighborhood is predominately white. VERDICT An additional historical fiction purchase that will resonate with readers facing change as Georgia builds resiliency.-Sarah Polace, Cuyahoga P.L. Syst., OH

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2021
Grades 4-7 Sukenic's novel in verse begins on Georgia Johnson's last day of elementary school in June 1967. Her teacher reminds the students to submit their entries about Detroit to a poetry contest to be ultimately judged by Gwendolyn Brooks. Ordinarily, that would thrill Georgia, a budding poet, but entrants must live in Detroit to win, and her family, who's Black, is about to move to a largely white suburb of Detroit. She puts down her aunt Birdie's address instead and hopes it will work out. Still, the deceit weighs heavily on her mind all summer. When she's not worrying about the poetry competition, she worries about her oldest brother, Ty, who is in Vietnam. She makes friends with Naomi, a girl her age who is on her brother Jerome's baseball team, and Naomi joins her on clandestine trips to Detroit to check Aunt Birdie's mailbox. Sukenic's verse is compact and lively, telling Georgia's first-person story with sparkle and verve. She evokes detailed images with her carefully chosen words and captures Georgia's story perfectly.

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