It was Saturday afternoon in the community of West Hill, nicknamed "Black Diamond District," and teens were flooding to Bro Brown's Malt Shop to push coins, first into the Jukebox, and then head over to order their favorite drink, to get started... My choice? Orange Cream, but I doubt it was available in the 40s...LOL But no matter what era, I was there to enjoy the music and check out another kind of whodunit...
Hear that, the flavor of Autumn Leaves, which is one of my favorite Nat King Cole vocals, is right in there at the beginning... Now at my time, the word was groovy...in the 40s, I don't know what they called smooth jazz... but it's what most was happening at Bro's place... a central location of these books--where friends could gather and talk, hear the latest news, or meet up with others from school for a little out-of-school JOY...
In fact, the trilogy surrounds the lives of a threesome of teen girls at all times--with one change when a family had to move to another part of the country. And Ari came in to find herself in a safe place finally... More on that later... Vicky was in book one; however, you should also know that the lives of all three girls are continuously within the pages of the trilogy. Here, you'll find just a few main facts that I found of personal interest and wanted to share with all of you!
Berta considers herself just an average student, in most ways. In fact, she only began to find herself recognizing her value, when a certain young boy came stumbling into her life... You see, Howard sat in front of Berta in one of their classes... While Berta was dreaming of ever having a date with the most popular boy in school and deciding that wasn't going to happen. My thought immediately was that Howard was secretly interested in Berta... And shy around her...
So much so that when he was coming to class, one time he stumbled right before he got to his own chair and fell onto Berta's desk... How humiliating! All the class was laughing; but, it was only later that Berta, remembered, that, when Howard's head popped up and he leaned on her desk, he had asked if she was ok! You know, that's when my mystery solving mind decided, Yep, he's whodunit! He's the guy for Berta!
And I was right...
So, one day, Berta was meeting Vicky... And, there she sat wearing Willie's sports jacket! How Cool! Berta had her own secret to share; but, being Berta, she allowed her friend to share her joy of wearing Willie's jacket first... And, only then, did she reveal that her family had a new addition! No, you're wrong if you immediately thought what most people would think, LOL... Her father had bought a Television!!!!
But I have to tell you about their first date! Howard fumbled around and finally got it out that his sister was getting married and, like, would Berta be his date at the wedding? She almost swooned... Her first grownup event--what would she wear?! Thoughts flooded into her mind, until she finally remembered she had to say "yes" to Howard!
And the very first thing she noticed at the wedding? Howard was not awkward or stumbling around... She realized that he was in a safe space, where everybody loved him and came to hug and talk to him... I believe it was then that Berta began to see Howard for who he really was... And that, somebody, was somebody she really began to like--a lot!
Until Berta began to have trouble understanding the material of a couple of her classes. She found she had to spend more time studying and less time with her friends and the malt shop... But what are friends for? Vicky one day just came out and asked her friend what was wrong. And Berta confessed she needed to study more but some of it she just couldn't understand... It was algebra for me... I had to take a class to be able to take a few management courses on campus when I started working right after I graduated... All I can remember now, and immediately after I passed the course, was that there was an 8 on its side and it meant infinity... LOL Anyway, Vicky forced her to make time to meet with her to study together... until she moved on to the other major concern that had developed...
Vicky had career goals even early in her teens... It wasn't until Berta began to have trouble with some of her classwork that, perhaps for the first time, she realized that she'd never thought about plans for the future--that she didn't even think about it enough to wonder if she wanted to work, what would she do? Her self-doubt became so great that she was no longer able to deal with the reality of her day-to-day life activities... She even began to worry about Howard when he said that a new girl was pretty...
Until she opened up, at Howard's insistence, to him...
This, then, is one of the reasons, I wanted to spotlight this trilogy. Keels has a personal connection to all that has happened within the Black Culture. Her books reveal that connection and her desire to create the books that she could never find when she was growing up and going through her teen years... She wanted to share those books and I believe she has done a fantastic job... Sure, these books all have Black characters... But, I have to say, I've never found anything that makes me think that color of the skin makes our teen years, or, in fact, any part of our lives, different because one is black and one is white. It's NOT true... Circumstances may be a problem, but never the people unless... well, you all know what I mean...
One of the first books I read by a Black woman, had a cover with a white woman. I asked her why. She told me there were no covers readily available with Black people! And that's been within the last twenty years! I am a fan of book covers. It's the first thing I do when I get a new book... Kudos to Keels for making sure this historical trilogy reflected exactly what she wanted to have found when she was a teen! And for again, providing a final narrative on, this time, the Black culture and capitalization/writing concerns... is covered...
I especially enjoyed the three characters that Nadine created... Each one entirely different in so many ways; yet, they had become friends... Reminded me of the trio I was part of in junior high and on through graduation. One Black girl, One Catholic girl, and one white girl, who thankfully believed that God had created all people! And, isn't that the way it's supposed to be?! But, just as we are experiencing once again, our Black neighbors being persecuted. We need to question, don't we?! We are all God's children, every one of us. And, surely, if in the 1940s, the Black songs were not even allowed to be played by many radio stations, then surely we should have progressed by 2026! And we have to some extent... but not under the president that I don't recognize...as...mine...
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