P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia (review)

After coming back from a summer in Oakland with her Black Panther mother (in One Crazy Summer, BCCB 2/10), eleven-year-old Delphine is glad to be home, but she soon finds that she's not the only one who changed over the past months. Her beloved father has found himself a serious lady friend, Miss Marva Hendrix, while Mr. Mwila, an exchange teacher from Zambia, is challenging Delphine's sixth-grade class with old-school rigor and high expectations. As Delphine negotiates these challenges over the school year, she corresponds with her mother, who sends flinty, poetic guidance to her daughter, with the befuddling encouragement to "be eleven." Delphine's narration again creates a captivating portrait of both the age and her age, where she and her sisters go crazy for the Jackson Five, her beloved uncle returns from Vietnam with a drug problem, and her abiding concern is the class' spring dance; her voice is smart-preteen authentic in its blend of shallowness and thoughtfulness. Characterization is strong throughout, with Delphine's father's girlfriend (and eventual new wife) particularly interesting: her introduction to the group throws off the family dynamics, often in good ways (she dethrones Delphine from being the "responsible one" among her sisters, and challenges Delphine's father and brother on their sexism). Overall, it's a perceptive picture of Delphine's continued and sometimes painful growth against a vivid period backdrop. It's therefore a natural for sharing with family with their own memories of the era, and fans of Delphine's first outing will delight in her return.