We Deserve Monuments

 









We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds is a LGBTQ+ YA novel and based on my library's sirsi database it is recommended for 9th to 12th graders ages 14 to 19.

This book is a tale of love and uncovering the past. Avery moves to Bardell, Georgia where she falls in love with one of her neighbors of the same sex while uncomvering the dark racist past of the town and its connection with her family.

I chose this book because it has been on our new books rack at the library for sometime and upon closer inspection from the ALA it was award the John Steptoe New Talent Author Award in 2023 (n.d.). This award is given to authors who have not exceeded three published works in number. I also chose this because it fulfilled one of the requirements of a LGBTQ+ novel as well as focusing on racial issues which I am very interested in.

For this critical evaluation I want to focus on plot, setting and theme.

Reading this book came at the perfect time as I am very interested in exploring literature and film about racial tensions. As for this book it focuses on that as well as identity in its plot. We Deserve Monuments does an excellent job of telling a fish out of water story. Avery has moved to Bardell, Georgia where everything is so much different for her and racial tensions are still very much a problem even now. On top of that she is also a gay character. So, the book speaks to these two underlying issues and the plot is porpelled by the secrets she uncovers about her family and the town around her that cause her to look at things in a different light. This is what plot should do. It needs to transform the characters, put them in situations that will test them, spit them back out and make them stronger for it.

Setting is always important for a story that deals with these darker issues. Set in the deep south, the book uses its setting to address racism and identity. The south is a rather religious and racist place and the town of Bardell is just that. The setting of an unfamiliar small town allows for the mysteries that get introduced to mean more as you explore the history of this town and what it means for the family. This story could no have the same impact if it was set in a town that did not have racial tensions. So, exploring them here makes for a setting that's perfect for this story.

Last, I want to look at theme. Theme explores the core ideas of a work and gives us meaning. Theme is not the plot, but really what the plot is about. Two of its main themese are identity and race. Avery is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and as such must deal with scrutiny, especially in a less accepting place. The same can be said for race. Race plays a heavy role in much of southern literature and the exploration of it through looking at the past and how Avery's family is entangled in it allows the story to comment on these issues we know so well.

References

American Library Association (n.d.). John Steptoe New Talent Award. https://www.ala.org/rt/cskbart/cskbookawards/johnsteptoe

Hammonds, J. (2022). We Deserve Monuments. Roaring Brook Press.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Someone is Always Watching

Image
Someone is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong is horror novel and classified under Young Adult fiction from the publishing site (Penguin Random House, 2024). Amazon lists the reading age between 7th and 9th grade (Amazon, n.d.). The book follows friends Blythe, Gabrielle, Tucker and Tanya who are torn apart when Gabrielle seems to have killed their principal, but had no memory of the event. This one instance begins to tear them apart as they try to piece together what is happening to Gabrielle. I typically stay out of the horror realm despite liking horror and have never touched a YA  horror book. So, this was a good chance to get acquinted with it. I didn't find this through any particular list done by the ALA but it was a book recommended to me by a fellow library that has seen some traction by mainly high school girls. I wanted to familiarize myself with an unfamiliar genre that seems to be a popular genre for young readers that gives me the impression of something like Pretty ...
Read more

Murtagh

Image
  Murtagh by Christopher Paolini is a YA Fantasy novel and can be read by readers between 7th and 12th grades. The book is classified under YA by Penguin Random House (n.d.) The story follows Murtagh after the events of the original Inheritance Cycle series where he is an outcast and must atone for his past sins after being a major antagonist. Wanting to find redemption it takes him to unknown lands where he must face off against a witch that mas much more planned for the land of Alagaesia. I chose this book because I grew up reading the Eragon books as a kid and they were a big part of developing my love od reading, but I haven't read them since childhood and have never touched this book until now. YA fantasy is a very popular genre and selecting from a long running series felt appropriate to examine. For this one in particular I chose to listen to an audiobook which is completely out of my comfort zone. After listening to it, I can't really say I comprehended it it. There...
Read more

Who Was Michelangelo?

Image
Who Was Michelangelo? is a biography written for young readers and Penguin Random House places the age of the intended readers between 8 to 12 years old (n.d.). This book is more or less a book of facts about the real life artist, Michelangelo and forgoes the traditional narrative but records the events of his life from childhood to his time painting for the Catholic Church, in particular being commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. he would go on to sculpt many important pieces and he would be remembered through those works far after his death. Again, my justification for selecting this book doesn't come from it being on any list but rather the popularity of the book series published by WhoHQ. Working in a library beside a elementary school, many students use these books for projects and early level research and they are a great source of information for young readers by selecting the key moments of a persons life without bombarding readers with too much complex ...
Read more