  | Book Details Title: Leaving Lymon |
Book DescriptionReview ★ “Balancing rich history and timeless themes of race, instability, and the importance of music and the arts, this title is another must-have from Cline-Ransome.”—School Library Journal, Starred Review ★ “Cline-Ransome’s masterful storytelling will keep readers enthralled while teaching them about historical racial biases in the penal system, the plight of children during the Great Migration, the discrimination faced by Northern blacks, and more. A captivating novel about a boy whose story will leave readers wanting more.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review “In this companion to her Coretta Scott King Honor Book Finding Langston (2018), Cline-Ransome digs deep into the story of Lymon, the boy who bullied Langston. . . . Lymon’s strong first-person narrative does an excellent job of capturing both the boy’s confusion and disappointment, though his transformation into a bully is muted, as is the scene where he rips Langston’s book. This is at its best when depicting the strong relationships that keep Lymon afloat, and the hopeful ending will uplift readers.”—Booklist “Ultimately redemptive and truly heartwarming, this character study—a stand-alone companion to the award-winning Finding Langston (Holiday House 2014)—is at once devastating and deeply beautiful. Very brief chapters are broken down into four sections (“Daddy,” “Momma,” “Lymon,” and “Us”), facilitating enhanced readability for younger grades, while the subject matter and the masterpiece of an author’s note will reach those in middle school. Indeed, Lymon’s story is one of hope amidst great adversity and should be considered compulsory reading to all age levels.” —School Library Connection Read more About the Author Lesa Cline-Ransome is the author of almost twenty books for young readers. Her work has received a plethora of honors, including dozens of starred reviews, NAACP Image Award nominations, Coretta Scott King Honors, and a Christopher Award, and has been named to ALA Notable Books and Bank Street Best Children’s Books lists. She lives in Rhinebeck, NY, with her husband and collaborator James E. Ransome. Read more Customers Review: For grades 3-7.A young black boy, Lymon narrates this story, the tale of his life from who knows when but quite young in 1938 to who knows when but in or nearing his teens in 1947. He starts out happy in Vicksburg, Mississippi, living with his grandfather and grandma. His father is in jail and he’s never known his errant momma. That’s 1938 to 1942. In 1942, they move to Milwaukee to live with Lymon’s Aunt Vera and Uncle Clark: Lymon’s grandpa is dying and his grandma –he calls her “Ma”– is ill with diabetes. By 1945, his grandfather is gone and grandma is in the hospital. His mother shows up out of nowhere and moves him to Chicago to live with her, her two boys by another father, and her new husband, Robert, who she assures Lymon is a good man —look at how he took her in with two children of her own, neither one his! but Lymon has to be careful around him because he works so hard. But Lymon finds he can’t please Robert no matter what he does. He’s a tyrant and a bully and Lymon is a convenient punching bag. Hearing Lymon pick out a melody on a guitar his grandfather had left him, Lymon’s most valuable possession, Robert takes it from Lymon and deliberately destroys it.A year later and Lymon is in detention, the Arthur J. Andy Home, in prison like daddy was years before. But his daddy’s out now and has no intention of going back in again. In the end, 1947, father and son are reunited. His daddy gives up his life on the road as a musician (a lot of this book is about music) and takes a steady job. Lymon and his dad live near Aunt Vera and Uncle Clark again.That Lymon’s life end up positive, at least this segment of it, is largely because some good people did good things for him along the way: his grandfather taught him guitar, his grandparents and aunt and uncle looked out for him when he needed it, a deacon in his grandma’s church who owned a barbershop hired Lymon to clean up his shop in taught him how to play the trumpet and read music. One of the messages of this warm and affecting book is that good people can have an effect even in unfortunate times. Enough good people touch Lymon at the right times so that by the end of the book, as he nears adulthood, he has a sense of self and he stands for something. It’s a lovely book.
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9 reviews