Really, I think that's what this story is all about: learning to look around you and ask questions about the things you don't understand. Not only are the questions cleverly worded and the character's 11-year-old voice pitch perfect, they also provoked a sense of wonder in me as a (grownup) reader.
This book doesn't shy away from heavier topics-mental illness, long-term grief, and broken relationships to name a few-but it's never **too much** because Genie approaches all of these issues in the same way: by writing down thought-provoking questions in his notebook. Despite it being as different from home as night is from day, the boys soon acclimate to their new surroundings, and in the process, learn things about their family members that alter their perceptions of themselves.
Dumbfounded by Ernie's reluctance, Genie is left to wonder-is bravery and becoming a man only about proving something, or is it just as important to own up to what you won't do?ĭeparting from the often gritty, urban-set YA contemporary he's known for, AS BRAVE AS YOU takes us south to Virginia where Brooklynites 11-year-old Genie and his big brother Ernie are set to spend a month at their grandparent's house in "the country". Genie thinks that is AWESOME until he realizes Ernie has no interest in learning how to shoot. It's his fourteenth birthday, and, Grandpop says to become a man, you have to learn how to shoot a gun. Then Ernie lets him down in the bravery department. And when he finds the secret room that Grandpop is always disappearing into-a room so full of songbirds and plants that it's almost as if it's been pulled inside-out-he begins to wonder if his grandfather is really so brave after all. How does he match his clothes? Know where to walk? Cook with a gas stove? Pour a glass of sweet tea without spilling it? Genie thinks Grandpop must be the bravest guy he's ever known, but he starts to notice that his grandfather never leaves the house-as in NEVER. Thunderstruck, Genie peppers Grandpop with questions about how he hides it so well (besides wearing way cool Ray-Bans).
The first is that he and his big brother, Ernie, are leaving Brooklyn for the very first time to spend the summer with their grandparents all the way in Virginia-in the COUNTRY! The second surprise comes when Genie figures out that their grandfather is blind. When two brothers decide to prove how brave they are, everything backfires-literally-in this "pitch-perfect contemporary novel" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review) by the winner of the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award.
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