If you like: supportive friendships, social issues, The Westing Game, Three Times Lucky, E.L. Konigsburg.
The Parker Inheritance is a middle grade novel that can resonate with readers of all ages.
The main mystery of the book is complex, rooted in terrible acts of racism by one town in Georgia in the 1950s. Almost 70 years later, 12-year-old Candice finds a clue that may unlock a treasure, one that can help restore a town that has suffered a great deal. The book jumps back and forth in time, hopping from one narrative to another, to tell a page-turning story.
The mystery itself is complex because the history (and present-day issues) of racism and segregation are complex. The Parker Inheritance doesn’t shy away from any of it. Along with the main dissection of racism in the Deep South, the author openly and honestly deals with topics like colorism within the black community, bullying, and homophobia within the church community. Difficult topics are explored with care, and given the weight they deserve.
That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot of warmth and support that goes on in the book. Candice’s relationship with her divorcing parents is shifting, but they fight for each other, and the friendship Candice forms with the boy across the street, Brandon, is amazing.
While some of the clues Candice finds are tangible things, I like that most of her revelations come in the form of stories and human connection. The mystery in The Parker Inheritance is not like cracking a cypher, but like being handed pieces of a puzzle that all come together to form a greater picture. Candice and Brandon, aren’t sneaking around in the shadows. They’re always out on the street, talking to people, creating one collective story.
The overarching mystery of the book is properly intricate and intriguing, but what makes The Parker Inheritance great is the characters. There is a full cast spread out over the jumps back and forth in time, but my favorite is still Candice. With divorcing parents and being separated from her friends for the summer, she doesn’t spend much time moping. She is voraciously smart and persistent, kind, but tough when it’s called for. At the end of the day Candice is 12 years old, but that doesn’t impede her from creating true change.
Almost nothing in The Parker Inheritance is black and white. Instead, there are layers within layers formed over time—personal stories blurring the lines, overlapping. As black women, many things come with adversity for Candace, and her late grandmother in the early 2000s, and Siobhan in the 1950s, but each of them has a greater care for the world around them, and work hard to protect what is precious, and real.
There are many moving pieces in this book, but Varian Johnson ties all of the elements tightly together to create a memorable story. For a page-turning mystery, a closer look at the intricacies of racism, and unstoppable, kick-butt kids check out The Parker Inheritance.
"The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson; Arthur A. Levine Books; March 2018.
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