Back (Orca Soundings)
When is forgiveness not acceptable? That’s the question McClintock seems to be posing in this brief but moving novel. It’s the story of Jojo, an ex-thug returned home after serving two years in prison. No one on the block is happy to see him again, least of all Ardell, the brother of the boy Jojo beat with a crowbar. But Jojo seems to have reformed—he is quiet, deferential, and stays home to care for his ailing mother. Rallied by Ardell, the neighborhood begins to seal itself off from Jojo, not even allowing him to buy items at the corner store or call a taxi to take his mother to the doctor. Violence seems inevitable, and is, yet this doomed predestination lends a tragic power to an otherwise slim narrative. McClintock’s boldest stroke is to tell the story from the point of view of an unnamed (and ungendered) child whose proximity allows him or her access to the inscrutable half-lives observable from people’s porches and sidewalks. Perfect for reluctant readers up for some soul-searching. Grades 6-9. --Daniel Kraus