The Reckoning

October 30, 2023
Hudson (Defiant) takes a microscope to the complicated role that protests and video evidence play in investigating and acquiring justice for the murder of Black Americans in this straightforwardly told tale. Black middle schooler Lamar Philips dreams of becoming a famous filmmaker like his idol, Spike Lee. Inspired by his grandfather’s stories about participating in the civil rights movement, Lamar endeavors to make a documentary about Gramps’s life; he also digs into the Black history of his Morton, La., hometown, and becomes interested in the contemporary machinations of Morton’s leadership. But before Lamar can start working on the film, Gramps is killed in a shooting. The perpetrator, a white man who was once the head of the local KKK, claims self-defense, setting off a series of protests demanding justice and that the local authorities conduct a full investigation. While the movement builds steam, it sheds light on Morton citizens’ latent racism. Hudson utilizes an evenly paced story line and clear-eyed narration to explore systemic prejudice through the lens of a young Black filmmaker grieving the death of an inspiring loved one, resulting in a multilayered depiction of segregation and contemporary racism in America. Ages 8–12.

November 15, 2023
Black middle schooler Lamar Phillips has one goal in life: to be a filmmaker. Lamar takes every chance he can to video things using the camcorder he received from Gramps. Unfortunately, growing up in Morton, Louisiana, where nothing big ever seems to happen, means Lamar feels at a loss for "something exciting, something important" to film. There's an undercurrent of segregation and racism in the town, but Lamar has an unlikely friend in Jeff, who shares his love of movies and is one of the few white students at school. After Lamar has a run-in with someone on a side of town his parents say is dangerous, Gramps invites Lamar to join him at a city council meeting to observe town politics. Once Lamar's seen Gramps in action, pointing out how Morton's white neighborhoods are better maintained than Black ones, he learns about his grandparents' pasts as civil rights activists. Tragically, soon after, Gramps dies at the hands of a white man, and the fallout reinforces how deeply ingrained racism is in Morton. Lamar works through his complicated feelings by making a documentary about Gramps' life. Acclaimed author Hudson captures the simplicity of childhood and the complexities of growing up Black, with the challenges that often brings. Lamar (and readers) are never left feeling helpless for long, with older characters in the book offering support and guidance. A powerful reminder to never stop speaking the truth. (Fiction. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2023
Grades 4-6 Gramps helped aspiring filmmaker Lamar buy a camcorder, and now the 12-year-old is determined to find "something important" to film in their boring country town. Gramps and Lamar begin spending meaningful time together, during which Gramps, a former civil rights activist, shares past and present struggles of the Black community within their still segregated Louisiana town. When Gramps is murdered in an act of racial violence, Lamar focuses his storytelling skills on documenting and honoring his late grandfather's legacy. Hudson has edited several powerful antibias anthologies recently, and this story reflects those themes as well as aspects of his middle-grade memoir, Defiant (2021). The narrative flow stumbles a bit with unnecessary detail and awkward dialogue, and teachable moments may feel heavy-handed to readers. Still, with its reflections on sharecropping, the civil rights movement, local activism, and a call that "every generation pass the baton on to the next to carry on the struggle" for equal justice, this story offers an important perspective and is well suited for intergenerational sharing. Recommend to potential changemakers and budding filmmakers.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2023

Gr 3-7-In our current age of book bans and lesson censorship, this novel has plenty of material to reckon with. Set in small-town Louisiana, it follows aspiring teenage filmmaker Lamar Phillips, Jr., as he begins filming a documentary about his trailblazing grandfather. Sadly, unexpected violence leads Lamar's project in a different direction. Hudson's text sets out to boldly counterpoint beliefs that the past is stale news or too upsetting for children to learn. In that, it succeeds as a straightforward primer on Black history and racism in a town that's allegedly beyond segregation. The book shines when that purpose is made clear; when it takes on young Black kids who need their history, or points out the inequality of civic resources, or the injustice of undeserved murder. Its strength, and perhaps greatest weakness, is in its instructive tone. Every character-from the town mayor to the protagonist's goofy best friend-speaks in the same didactic way. The ideas are shared with passion and conviction, and it presents activism essentials in an accessible way. But the characters exist to serve those ideas, which get clunky at times. It's a strong intellectual experience without much emotional heft beyond how naturally difficult these topics are. It's a basic introduction to complicated concepts of political machines and culture wars. VERDICT The power of Black history and activism told simply; a good start for struggling middle grade readers just introduced to American history.-Cat McCarrey

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2024
Lamar Phillips, a contemporary middle schooler in Morton, Louisiana, wants to be a filmmaker. With the new camcorder his grandfather helped him buy, he interviews students, records school football and baseball games, and films scenes in the neighborhood, but he feels like "nothing ever happens in Morton" and intends to do something bigger with his filmmaking. Gramps, a Black civil rights activist and Freedom Rider of the 1960s, has always stressed the importance of learning his past, where he came from -- Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- and Lamar begins to see how interesting Gramps's own story is. He "worked the crops" for Old Man Claude, lived in a house with no plumbing, didn't go to school much, and fought in Vietnam. Lamar wants to make a documentary about Gramps, but when his grandfather is killed by a known former Klansman, Lamar films the resultant protests and the MAGA counter-protests. In straightforward, unadorned prose, Hudson (Defiant, rev. 11/21) tells an important story about an all-too-common contemporary tragedy and manages to be angry and hopeful at the same time. For a slim volume, the book carries the weight of a difficult history and the urgency to carry on the fight: "Listen, son, now is your time. It's your generation that's got the future in its hands." And with his video footage, Lamar intends to do justice to his grandfather's story. Dean Schneider

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2024
Lamar Phillips, a contemporary middle schooler in Morton, Louisiana, wants to be a filmmaker. With the new camcorder his grandfather helped him buy, he interviews students, records school football and baseball games, and films scenes in the neighborhood, but he feels like "nothing ever happens in Morton" and intends to do something bigger with his filmmaking. Gramps, a Black civil rights activist and Freedom Rider of the 1960s, has always stressed the importance of learning his past, where he came from -- Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- and Lamar begins to see how interesting Gramps's own story is. He "worked the crops" for Old Man Claude, lived in a house with no plumbing, didn't go to school much, and fought in Vietnam. Lamar wants to make a documentary about Gramps, but when his grandfather is killed by a known former Klansman, Lamar films the resultant protests and the MAGA counter-protests. In straightforward, unadorned prose, Hudson (Defiant7, rev. 11/21) tells an important story about an all-too-common contemporary tragedy and manages to be angry and hopeful at the same time. For a slim volume, the book carries the weight of a difficult history and the urgency to carry on the fight: "Listen, son, now is your time. It's your generation that's got the future in its hands." And with his video footage, Lamar intends to do justice to his grandfather's story.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)