Life Riddles

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

As an aspiring author, seventh grader Janelle pays close attention to her librarian aunt's advice to ``write it down.'' Taking refuge in the stories she is constantly inventing, Janelle, the narrator, tries to block out the pain of her parents' separation and the financial worries that plague her hard-working mother. When her father eventually returns, the girl discovers some of the truth behind her aunt's ``life riddles,'' observations that Janelle ``never understood . . . till something happened to point things out.'' Believable as the oldest child who, unlike her siblings, understands the seriousness of her family's situation, the narrator also addresses a rarely discussed situation: being the ``Hershey bar''-colored daughter of parents with skin ``the color of coffee with double cream.'' Although Cooper (author of the picture book I Got a Family ) relies a bit heavily on the life-riddle motif, she offers readers grounds for optimism as she charts one family's survival through a sadly familiar terrain of ``lean times.'' Ages 9-12. (Jan.)

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Janelle is a 12-year-old African-American girl with a loving mother, two companionable younger sisters, and a special soul mate of an aunt. Missing from her life is her father, who left the family soon after losing his job. It is his absence that inspires Janelle to write a prize-winning essay entitled, ``Where I'd Go to Follow My Dreams.'' Aunt Barbara, a librarian, encourages her niece to follow her dreams by writing, and Janelle begins to submit manuscripts to various publications. She is thrilled when one of them is published, and uses part of the $200 payment to buy new shoes for her family. This book's strengths lie in its strong character development, lovely writing, and heartfelt message about what really makes a family rich. There is very little plot development, however, and the father's return seems as abrupt and unexpected as the ease with which Janelle breaks into the publishing industry. All in all, this is a satisfying story with a strong message of following one's dreams, wherever they may lead.- Anna DeWind, Milwaukee Public Library

Hazel Rochman

Like "Make Lemonade" ("Booklist"'s 1993 Top of the List for fiction), this is a realistic story about a poor inner-city family struggling for food, shelter, education, and medical care. The story's told in the voice of 12-year-old Janelle, a smart honors student. She's a writer who "put the day into my journal." With a stark social realism and without self-pity, she gets across her conflicts and her dreams ("It was happiness, sadness, and worry"). What leadens the story is the overt didacticism. Perfect Aunt Barbara is Janelle's mentor, full of the moralistic "life riddles" of the title. As sermon texts, they might work--especially since they're always stated in simple words--but not as fiction. It's the sense of family life that will hold kids, the unflinching picture of poverty and how you get through things together. With physical immediacy, Cooper dramatizes the hunger when the money has run out at the end of the month, "our whole family kept bumping into each other, getting on each other's nerves looking into the cupboards all the time." Or there's the opening scene when the power's been cut off because Janelle's mother can't pay the electric bill; even the young kids know what it means that the "man from the electric been here." Or the worry when mother loses her job. Happiness comes when the absent father returns, and despite difficulties and "yo-yo" feelings by everyone, he stays.