{"id":36882,"date":"2019-11-09T23:30:20","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T03:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36882"},"modified":"2019-11-09T23:30:20","modified_gmt":"2019-11-10T03:30:20","slug":"review-of-ordinary-hazards-by-nikki-grimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=36882","title":{"rendered":"Review of Ordinary Hazards, by Nikki Grimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Ordinary Hazards<\/p>\n

A Memoir<\/em><\/p>\n

by Nikki Grimes<\/p>\n

Wordsong (Highlights), 2019. 325 pages.
\nStarred Review
\nReview written November 9, 2019, from a library book<\/p>\n

Wow. Nikki Grimes wrote a powerful and moving memoir in verse.<\/p>\n

Between this book and Shout<\/a><\/em> by Laurie Halse Anderson, I should make a new page on my website for Teen Nonfiction. This book isn\u2019t for children, even though it tells about Nikki Grimes\u2019 childhood. It is for teens, and will speak to teens who have to deal with hard things.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a caption at the front:<\/p>\n

MEMOIR:
\na work of imperfect memory
\nin which you meticulously
\ncapture all that you can recall,
\nand use informed imagination
\nto fill in what remains.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The author explains that there are blanks in her memory because of trauma. And her childhood had lots of trauma. At the point when she finally found a loving home in a foster home, her mother took her back, and the difficulties began again.<\/p>\n

At one point, when she\u2019d described the abuse she went through at the hands of her mother\u2019s husband, she then wrote about being thirteen \u2013 and I wanted to cry. So young! Later, when she was in high school and had built a good relationship with her father at last, more tragedy struck.<\/p>\n

But she doesn\u2019t ask you to feel sorry for her. And you can see her coping. One of the ways she coped, even as a child, was writing, always writing. She\u2019s got excerpts from her Notebooks over the years, adding immediacy. (Though, alas, they are reconstructed and imagined.)<\/p>\n

This is a quietly Christian book. She shows how important prayer was to her and how her faith in God was her lifeline \u2013 along with key people who came into her life and helped her through.<\/p>\n

And there are tough things in her story, but Nikki Grimes infuses the book with joy. I love the story about going on the subway with her best friends \u2013 which goes with one of the handful of pictures in the back of the book.<\/p>\n

One afternoon,
\nwe three dressed up
\nin our finest rags
\nto help Gail\u2019s boyfriend,
\na fledgling photographer
\nin need of a portfolio
\nto display his considerable skills.
\nDebra and I ripped off our glasses,
\nand we three posed for portraits
\nin the park
\n(me in my new coat!),
\nthen hung from a vertical pole
\nin the middle of a subway car,
\nswinging round it gleefully,
\npretending to be
\nprofessional models.
\nIn other words,
\nwe hammed it up, yo!
\nAnd those photographs?
\nOh, my God! Portraits
\nof joy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love reading this knowing that the little girl portrayed here, up against so much, did become the writer she planned to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to write books about
\nsome of the darkness I\u2019ve seen,
\nreal stories about real people, you know?
\nBut I also want to write about the light,
\nbecause I\u2019ve seen that, too.
\nThat place of light \u2013 it\u2019s not always easy
\nto get to, but it\u2019s there.
\nIt\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes! She achieved this. Even though this memoir portrays childhood trauma and difficulties, it\u2019s a book about the light.<\/p>\n

nikkigrimes.com<\/a>
\nwordsongpoetry.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/ordinary_hazards.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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