12/7/2023 0 Comments Jojo family guy funny momentsThis is a well-meaning white guy that has a tendency to miss a LOT of what’s actually going on in his classroom. Jo Jo attends the classroom of a guy that she only ever really calls Teacher. Quigley was able to display Jo Jo’s teacher’s shortcomings without coming right out and saying anything. I was also impressed by the degree to which Ms. Now THAT is a character I can sell to a kid. I’m talking name calling and bad decisions and more. But she also makes some serious lapses in judgment. Heck, I probably identified WAY to much with her tendency to think “If my friend is acting differently I won’t say anything and maybe everything will just go back to normal.” That was practically my M.O. This kid has some issues to work out! Sure you identify with her. Undoubtedly that’s why I like Jo Jo as much as I do. You may catch more flies with honey than vinegar, but I like my protagonists vinegary. I do not find these heroines interesting. She tries to do the right thing, is annoyed by some kind of sibling, makes mistakes but acknowledges them, and is generally a stand up and cheer kinda gal. Now in a typical book of this sort, the girl is a good-hearted gem. Spunky, plucky girls are the name of the game, and they make up the bulk of the offerings. While I do consider the early chapter book to be the most difficult kind of book to find for emerging readers, that isn’t to say that gobs of them come out every year. Look, I can probably tell you right off the bat why I like Jo Jo more than a large chunk of other early chapter book heroines out there. What is going on? Between this mystery, an accident (in every sense of the word) involving her cat at school, and a serious case of artistic jealousy, Jo Jo’s keeping everyone around her on their toes (including herself!). It used to be she’d always sit with Jo Jo. And Fern seems the same as always, except when it comes to lunch. Jo Jo, a seven-year-old Ojibwe kid living with her Mom and Kokum, has always been best friends with Fern. Funny and smart, with a sly sense of humor that’s entirely its own, prepare for a series that you’ll want to see much more of in the future. The first early chapter book to come out of the new Native focused imprint of Harper Collins, Heartdrum, this is a hoot. That’s where the Jo Jo Makoons series comes in. And sadly, the one thing you can say about Indigenous children’s literature is that very little of it could be counted as funny. True parity only comes when you get more goofball lit. This is a good thing, but I do get a little worried when the bulk of the books I see are deadly serious and meaningful. To that end we’re seeing a small uptick in the number of titles representing BIPOC voices. The world of children’s literature right now is attempting to counteract decades and decades' worth of all-white children’s literary publishing. And looking at it, it got me to thinking about children’s books. Just this year, I ran across an interesting book called We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff. I purchase the adult materials for my library system.
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