The Order of Things by Kaija Langley (review)

April’s Mama works the night shift for UPS, so the eleven-year-old girl lives in a quiet world of inverted sleep schedules, turned-off TVs, and definitely no drum sets. Luckily, April’s best friend Zee’s place serves as a second home, and there, sound is welcome. Zee, aspiring to be the first Black violinist to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra, practices his scales; New Orleanian drummer Papa Zee cracks terrible puns; and when Mama wakes up, she brings over baked ham for a family dinner set to jazz music. When Zee gets into a new school to foster his musical talents, April decides she should also start taking her own dream—becoming a rockstar drummer, like Sheila E.—more seriously, beginning drum lessons with Papa Zee. April makes percussive progress but generally can’t find a rhythm, missing Zee and unable to let anyone new in her life, when her world is entirely upended by Zee’s sudden death. This novel-in-verse is a steady roll that powerfully builds, like a satisfying drum solo, and Langley creates a beautiful (if tragic) symphony out of the rearrangement of characters and dynamics following Zee’s death, allowing for tender, heartrending expressions of intergenerational and found family caring in times of deep loss. April begins to see how she can make connections with and care for others in her community even in her grief, eventually helping a friend out of a domestic violence situation. Langley’s final verses provide readers reassurance that “All change leads to something different./ Different isn’t always easy, nor is it always bad./ It’s just different. And getting used to anything different takes time.” Fans of Kwame Alexander’s emotionally charged and character-driven verse novels will have no problem dancing to the beat of this drum. The included author’s note educates readers about sudden cardiac arrest.