NOT AN EASY WIN

After getting expelled from Andrew Jackson Middle School after getting in another fight with his bullies, 12-year-old Lawrence finds friendship, community, and healing in an unexpected space.

Lawrence’s family has had a “double dose of hard lately.” Pop is in jail again, and Lawrence, his mother, and his little sister have left Charlotte to move in with their no-nonsense Granny in her small North Carolina town to make ends meet. Lawrence feels that everything going wrong is his fault. Granny has made it clear that he can’t just sit around in front of the TV, so he ends up helping out at a local recreation center and spending time in an after-school program run by Mr. Dennis, Granny’s neighbor. There, Lawrence finally meets other kids who are Black, just like him, including Twyla and Deuce, a boy who doesn’t seem to want Lawrence around, though Mr. Dennis says they are very much alike. At the center, Lawrence is introduced to chess, “a game for thinkers,” and it helps him develop tools for mastering his emotions and a framework for considering how he’s been reacting to bullying and other events in his life. The characters are multidimensional and authentic: Complex issues, including poverty, parental incarceration, and racism, are explored with sensitivity, offering readers opportunities for reflection. Giles skillfully illustrates the nuances and cultural tensions that arise in multigenerational homes and masterfully captures the origins, cadences, and mannerisms common to many African American elders with compassion.

Stellar.