The Coretta Scott King Book Award is presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Task Force of the American Library Association’s Ethnic Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT). Recipients are authors and illustrators of African descent whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of the “American Dream.”
I have been reading the Coretta Scott King Award winners and honor books as they have been announced for the last few years. I had always planned on going back and reading the past Coretta winners and honor books eventually. I thought perhaps I’d tackle them after the Newbery honor books – in other words in a few years. But I recently decided to intersperse them, now, with my Newbery honor books, Caudill nominees, Lincoln nominees and personal choices for primarily for greater diversity. Until now, I never mentioned what I was doing specifically because I have been enjoying the winners simply as novels. But then Miracle’s Boys threw me for a little loop. It won the award in 2001.
Here was an opportunity for me to learn more about the differences between cultures – startling, mind-boggling differences. Here is a bit of a set up. I am the oldest of three siblings. My sister, the next oldest, is ten years younger than me. Our brother, the youngest, is twelve years my junior. So when it was time for me to head to college and become independent at the ripe old age of eighteen, they were eight and six. Had something happened to our parents, I would have stayed in college and my aunt and uncle would have raised us with support from our grandparents. I know this for a fact. I wouldn’t even have considered dropping out to support my siblings. It would be more important to graduate college and perhaps later… I could do it.
In Miracle’s Boys, the oldest brother, Ty’ree, is eighteen and a high school graduate with a full scholarship to MIT. The middle brother, Charlie, is fifteen and newly home from two years spent at a correctional facility. The youngest brother, Lafayette, who is our narrator, is twelve. Before Lafayette was even born, the boys’ father died of hypothermia. He jumped into a frozen pond to save a woman and her dog that had fallen through the thin ice. When the book opens, it is a couple of years after the boys’ mother has also died of insulin shock. Even though their Great Aunt Cecile intended to take them home with her, the boys refuse. Ty’ree doesn’t go to college but takes on a full time job. Their plan is to keep the family together whatever the cost.
Until I began to concentrate on writing this review, I had forgotten about the phrase, “whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of the ‘American Dream’”. My idea of the American Dream would include Charlie and Lafayette going to live with Aunt Cecile and continuing their education while Ty’ree went to MIT. It is very hard for me to comprehend their alternative even though I love my family and depend upon my family and support my family. My dream includes adults with experience raising the children. And an 18-year-old still very much being a young adult in need of experience and skills…
This book was jarring to me. I could not imagine this scenario. I am not sure what to do with it. There are children out there living this scenario. Do they need to read about it? Who would I recommend it to? Hopefully, if the right patron ever presents himself, I’ll remember it.
Otherwise, there are limitations to the boys’ continued living circumstances. If Charlie gets into trouble again, he’s heading to a place far worse than the correctional facility for boys. And Lafayette WILL join Aunt Cecile in the South. And it could be too late for Ty’ree to attend MIT. So much is at stake here. Ty’ree is committed. Lafayette is committed. But Charlie is an unknown variable. Upon his return, he is so changed that Lafayette starts thinking of him as Newcharlie. And he wants the old Charlie back.
Each boy has certain fears and even demons that he must face. Ty’ree feels responsible for his dad’s death. Both Charlie and Lafayette feel responsible for their mom’s death. Before they can forgive each other and work as a team, they must find a way to forgive themselves and find some healing.
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