  | Full Text Reviews: Bulletin for the Center... - 06/01/2016 While their parents figure out the future of their marriage, Brooklynite brothers Genie and Ernie will be spending the summer with their paternal grandparents in Virginia. There’s some bad blood between Dad and Grandpop, which has kept them apart for years, but Genie and Ernie don’t see the problem-Grandpop seems pretty great. In fact, older bro Ernie, who wears sunglasses for cool affect, is pleased to see Grandpop sports the same gear, and younger bro Genie is surprised to find that Grandpop, alone among the adults he knows, is actually willing to answer Genie’s endless questions. It turns out Grandpop isn’t being cool; glaucoma is close to totally claiming his vision. He’s mostly confined to home, but now his newly established rapport with Genie gives him incentive to tackle the outdoors. Unfortunately, false confidence outstrips ability and good sense as Grandpop insists on carrying out a coming-of-age tradition-teaching Ernie how to shoot-with disastrous results. There’s much here to remind readers of Curtis’s The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 (BCCB 1/96) with the city kids’ humorous adjustment to rural life, underpinned with a serious subplot that steadily rises in importance. Ernie and Genie actually get along well, and although Ernie is certainly striding into his teens in a way that baffles Genie, he’s a levelheaded kid whose summer romance with a neighbor is solid and sweet. Genie’s blundering helpfulness leads to a string of adventures and provides plenty of entertainment, and the mending of rifts in this African-American family delivers the warm and proper ending the cast has richly earned. EB - Copyright 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. School Library Journal - 12/01/2016 Gr 5–8—When 11-year-old worrywart Genie and his big brother, Ernie, leave Brooklyn and go to their grandparents' home in rural Virginia, it seems as though they have been dropped on another planet. The city boys are introduced to another way of life and to their blind grandfather, who goes to extreme lengths to conceal his disability. A rich and rewarding coming-of-age story about family and courage, told with laugh-out-loud humor and a great deal of heart. - Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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