Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature (CSMCL) Best Book of 2022
"Garvey in the Dark is more than a beautifully crafted novel in verse. It’s a story that faces news headlines and captures the wild emotional roller coaster of the COVID-19 pandemic with honesty and courage. A must-read for young people who lived through the early days of the outbreak as well as those who will be curious about it in years to come." —Kate Messner, New York Times bestselling author
“Few things could induce me to relive the first years of the pandemic; the invitation to read a spectacular book by Nikki Grimes is one of them. With deceptive simplicity, Grimes captures characters and emotions by wielding a poetic form—the tanka—with superb and superhuman strength, and the result is a beautiful and brilliant book about how faith, grace, and familial love can help us triumph over adversity. In Garvey, a gentle and thoughtful musician, Grimes has created an alternative male role model, whose heroism lies in kindness. If you’re already a friend of Garvey’s you will surely rejoice in this reunion and if you haven’t met him yet, here’s your chance! This sequel is as much a triumph as Garvey’s Choice—a stunning example of how much can be accomplished with few words in the hands of a masterful poet.” —Padma Venkatraman, Walter Award-winning author of The Bridge Home
★ “What kids in school had to go through – seeing their parents scared and/sick, missing their friends, and watching the world fall to complete disarray – is an almost impossible scenario, and Nikki Grimes captures it in well-written, poignant poetry. She uses the tanka form, crafting Garvey’s emotional journey from happiness, doubt, frustration, desperation, and near grief into crisp stanzas, articulating all of his feelings with short, well-placed phrases of dialogue.” —Youth Services Book Review, starred review
“With poignant clarity and in elegant verse, Grimes calls up the confusion, hope, and fear of the beginning of the pandemic…this offers a compelling chance to reflect on the discomfort of living through what will surely become fraught history.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
“[A] moving reflection on our recent past and the ongoing pandemic. Grimes, with her characteristic graceful, emotive poetry, incisively captures the uncertainty, exhaustion, fear, and isolation of the era. Top-notch writing with wide appeal. A hopeful tool for processing the pandemic, which has occupied a significant portion of students’ young lives.” —School Library Journal
"Grimes conveys many of the elements specific to Black life in 2020, focusing on how families adapted to Covid, not knowing whether a lasting resolution would arrive. [T]his story...tackles themes of family, friendship, grief, and coping with injustice and will inspire dialogue about this chaotic period as well as a sense of hope and healing. A way for young people to reflect on a troubled time." —Kirkus Reviews
"Written in sequences of five-line tanka poems, a haiku-like form, this verse novel transports readers back to the early pandemic months through Garvey’s experiences. The poems vividly express his thoughts and emotions as he, his family, and his friends deal with unwanted changes in their lives as well as the underlying dread of COVID-19. This engaging sequel will resonate with many readers." —Booklist
Garvey in the Dark
Narrated by James Shippy
Nikki GrimesUnabridged — 1 hours, 23 minutes
Garvey in the Dark
Narrated by James Shippy
Nikki GrimesUnabridged — 1 hours, 23 minutes
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Overview
As the first rumblings of the pandemic sound around Garvey, he hardly notices.
Caught up with his friends, school, chorus, and his newfound relationship with his father, he doesn't imagine that the new disease adults are talking about could touch him.
But it will.
When everything changes, when fear moves in, and when all seems dark, Garvey feels helpless. Yet one voice-Garvey's voice-can be a powerful spark in the dark ...
Editorial Reviews
10/14/2022
Gr 4–8—This companion novel to Garvey's Choice follows Garvey's experiences living through the changes and upsets in 2020 that the start of the pandemic brought. Told in the modern form of tanka poems (31 syllables in five lines), this novel in verse, set in Southern California, shows the routine of daily life for Garvey—being with friends, going to school, attending church, creating music—and the increasing whispers of illness, death, and the looming threat of the "Invisible Beast" (as Garvey and his friend Manny call it). Garvey's mother, a teacher, begins to work from home while his father, an essential worker, still must leave the house, risking exposure to the virus. As Garvey, who is Black, becomes stuck inside more than ever, he longs to participate in the BLM protests sweeping the world in the aftermath of the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. He learns to manage his worries through a supportive family, his deep attachment to music, and books. As Garvey notes as the start of the book, the pandemic has left him different but also the same, a feeling many young readers may relate to. Though it feels rushed at times, this quick read, both in pacing and format, is a moving reflection on our recent past and the ongoing pandemic. Grimes, with her characteristic graceful, emotive poetry, incisively captures and uncertainty, exhaustion, fear, and isolation of the era. VERDICT Top-notch writing with wide appeal. A hopeful tool for processing the pandemic, which has occupied a significant portion of students' young lives.—Amanda MacGregor
2022-08-31
The protagonist of Garvey’s Choice (2016) faces world-altering challenges.
In Grimes’ earlier book, Garvey, a young Black boy, found his courageous voice in the school chorus and connected with his sports-obsessed father. Relying again on the poetic form of tanka, this elegant verse novel sees Garvey and his family seeking to push through the maelstrom of life in 2020. Not only is Covid-19 sweeping the world (“The Invisible Beast,” as Garvey terms it), things are exacerbated by the continued presence of anti-Black violence as global communities lift up in protest the names of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. School is now driven by laptop cameras and screen time. Everyone is home now except for Dad, whose work installing Wi-Fi may expose him to threats that the entire family must take seriously. The stress builds, affecting everyone. The public outlets that Garvey discovered to fuel his happiness just aren’t available to him like before, when things were “normal.” Grimes conveys many of the elements specific to Black life in 2020, focusing on how families adapted to Covid, not knowing whether a lasting resolution would arrive. Though this story feels a little rushed compared with the first installment, it nevertheless tackles themes of family, friendship, grief, and coping with injustice and will inspire dialogue about this chaotic period as well as a sense of hope and healing.
A way for young people to reflect on a troubled time. (note about tanka) (Verse novel. 8-13)
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940176806670 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Recorded Books, LLC |
| Publication date: | 01/10/2023 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Age Range: | 8 - 11 Years |
Read an Excerpt
Prologue
Different. The same. . . .
That’s my answer if you ask how I am after
The Invisible Beast broke into our house, and our world.
[p19]
Garvey
I ride the ripples of song. That may sound silly but singing heals my heart. And in a way, music gave me the dad I needed.
[p20]
Week-Night Lesson
Dad’s fingers on mine,
he shows me the way to play.
My new guitar is quickly becoming a friend and, finally, so is Dad.
[p26]
Compared to What
Later, I catch Mom crying in the kitchen. I
look for onions, but don’t see one. “Mom?” “Sorry, Son,”
she says, grabbing a tissue.
“I was just thinking about students on breakfast and free lunch programs.
How will they eat with schools closed?”
I never thought about that.
I never had to.
Mom sees me bite my lip. “It’s okay, Garvey. We teachers will figure something out, somehow. It’s what we do.”
Mom manages the shadow of a smile so I’ll believe her like I
need to. What else can I do?
God, I hope you’re listening.
[p47]
Lock What?
Our governor says beginning tonight, our state is hitting the switch,
shutting down everyday life until further notice. What?
No work, no school, no chorus, no baseball with Joe,
no meals with Manny,
no out, only in, except for stocking up on supplies
till this storm passes.
At least it’s warm enough here in California to hang out in the backyard if indoors gets boring, but
how long will this be?
Three weeks? Four? Mom’s not sure. “We’ll get back to normal.
Trust me. Not even the worst hurricane can last for long.”
[p55]
Aisle Five
The Food Mart is filled with a stampede of shoppers trampling each other for—toilet paper? This is crazy! Get me out of here!
Back home, Angie helps unpack the groceries while
Mom and Dad smuggle dark whispers upstairs, as if their worry has no echo.
Angie and I share the truth with one long look: This
Invisible Beast must be worse than we thought. But we don’t dare say it out loud.
[p56]
Cough
This morning, Dad coughs.
It’s probably nothing, right?
Just a normal cold.
Or no. Worry grabs my gut strangling me from the inside.
Breathe, I tell myself,
then I text Joe, next Manny.
Joe: dw chill
Manny: sry fx
Fingers crossed, I chill—and pray.
[p107}
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