Garvey in the Dark

by Nikki Grimes

Overview

Winner, 2023 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award

Capturing the shock and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through the eyes of Garvey, a beloved character, Nikki Grimes’s newest novel in verse shows readers how to find hope in difficult times.

Garvey’s finally happy—he’s feeling close to his father through their shared love of music, bullies are no longer tormenting him, and his best friends Manny and Joe are by his side. But when the schools, stores, and restaurants close because people are getting sick, Garvey’s improved life goes into lockdown as well. And when Garvey’s father gets sick, Garvey must find a way to use his newfound musical skills to bring hope to both his father and himself. Moving, powerful, and beautifully told, this remarkable novel shows readers how even small acts have large reverberations, how every person can make a difference in this world, and how—even in the most difficult times—there are ways to reach for hope and healing.
 
Nikki Grimes is a New York Times bestselling author who has won the ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to young adult literature, the Children's Literature Legacy Award, the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, and NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. She has also received several ALSC Notables, a Coretta Scott King Author Award, Coretta Scott King Author Honors, Boston Globe-Horn Book Honors, a Printz Honor, and a Sibert Honor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635925265
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	10/25/2022
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	376,901
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.68(d)
Lexile:	590L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the ALA Children’s Literature Legacy Award, the ALAN Award for outstanding contributions to young adult literature, and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her books include her critically acclaimed memoir in verse Ordinary Hazards as well as picture books Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice and Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope. She won the Coretta Scott King Award for Bronx Masquerade and earned a Coretta Scott King Author Honor five times—for Words with Wings, Jazmin's Notebook, Dark Sons, Talkin’ About Bessie, and The Road to Paris. Visit nikkigrimes.com.

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}

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Publisher

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

School Library Journal

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)

Kirkus Reviews