Three Things I Know Are True by Betty Culley (review)

Culley, Betty Three Things I Know Are True. HarperTeen, 2020 [480p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-290802-5 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-290804-9 $9.99 Reviewed from galleys R* Gr. 8-12

"There's a calendar/ in my head/ and all the months/ say 'Jonah." So says Liv, age fifteen, whose life is focused on care of her beloved older brother, severely brain-injured and nonverbal as a result of a joking move with what turned out to be a loaded gun. In their home in a hardscrabble former mill town in Maine, Liv and her widowed mother deal with the constant presence of nurses, the uncertainty about Jonah's future, and the preparation of a lawsuit against the gun owners: the parents of Jonah's best friend, Clay, who lives just across the street. Liv, meanwhile, tentatively connects with Clay's mother and with Clay, who like Liv is suffering, and their bond grows stronger. Culley's compelling free-verse poems accumulate into a poignant story of a family that was already struggling (Liv's father's recent death, after losing his job when the mill closed, casts a long shadow) and then transformed into something unrecognizable. Liv's narration is touching, honest, and perceptive as she explores her feelings about Jonah's accident, her centrality in his life, and what his life means for her own. Handkerchiefs are requisite along the way, but ultimately it's a story of love and resilience as much as loss and grief.