Many of us, at any age, can be forgetful but when you see an elderly person struggle and search for words during a conversation, you realize how disheartening the loss of memory is for them and for those who love them. Elly Swartz, author of Finding Perfect (Farrar Straus Giroux, October 18, 2016) and Smart Cookie (Scholastic Press, January 30, 2018) has penned another exceptional middle grade novel about a twelve-year-old girl, Maggie, filled with anxiety and a fear of forgetting. It is an illuminating look at the power of our minds and the importance of family.1
Baby Girl
Baby Girl is the name written on her birth certificate,
but I think that's a bit sad. Mom calls her Isabelle.
That feels way too formal for a silky-soft, chubby
day-old baby who smells like powder. So I name
her Izzie.
Maggie's family is fostering a newborn until the birth parents reach a decision on the fate of their child. She, her two brothers, Dillon (older) and Charlie (younger) and her parents have been counseled to keep in mind, this little girl is in their care for only the briefest amount of time. To Maggie, she's already her very own little sister. On the first morning of Izzie's stay with the family, we are given a glimmer of Maggie's growing problem.
Chapter by chapter we are more fully acquainted with the members of Maggie's family including their Labrador retriever, Batman. Dillon is laser-focused on his basketball skills. Young Charlie spouts trivia like he's practicing for a spot on Jeopardy. Maggie is one of the best trap-shooters on her all-girl squad which happens to be coached by her father. Maggie has a huge heart, looking out for those who can't protect themselves, like an eastern painted turtle she rescues from the shooting range. She takes him home, smuggled in her pocket, and names him Bert.
This family is cemented together by love reflected in the actions of grandparents and parents. A year ago, Nana, the children's grandmother died. There was one horrible day when she didn't recognize Maggie anymore. Dinners begin with a round table of declarations of what made members, happy, sad or mad. Dinners do sometimes include their grandfather who lives near them. There is a constant exchange of conversation between siblings and adults with the children. And yet, amid all this, Maggie is in trouble.
Maggie is full of fear. She is terrified of forgetting like her grandmother. To alleviate her fear, she saves everything. Her bedroom closet is stacked with cardboard boxes and under her bed more boxes hold items tied to memories. Her locker at school is nearly overflowing. She has been able to keep this need to save a secret until two episodes of uncontrolled anger, first at Charlie and then her mother, draw her parents attention.
Amid the trips to the psychologist to create and follow through on a plan for Maggie to re-think her fear of forgetting, everyday life happens all around her. Changes are made on the all-girls trap squad as the state meet approaches. A new friendship is formed as a former friendship fades. Anger rears its ugly head again. A loss through carelessness sends the family in seek-and-find mode for days. There is heartbreak and hope in abundance. When Maggie's faced with a dilemma during the state meet, you'll have to remind yourself to breathe but breathe you will because we all are stronger together.
As soon as you begin reading you are reminded of Elly Swartz's innate ability to take us into the mind of her characters. This narrative in the first-person of Maggie is a deeply personal blend of thoughts, dialogue and notes in a journal. Through Maggie's words, silent, spoken or written, we meet a girl with a large capacity for compassion.
So in two days, two weeks, or a month, we'll need to return our little bundle to Rita and the agency.
Like a library book.
But I don't want to tell Charlie that.
Because to me, she feels like my baby sister.
Even if it's for just a few days.
Within the initial story Elly Swartz begins to leave careful clues about Maggie's growing fear; her need to keep items as physical ties to memories. We feel the start of something building, layer by layer. It increases until to our dismay, and Maggie's dread, it's out of control. It's hard to watch this unfold in this twelve-year-old girl's life.
When Nana died last year, I added a tassel from her favorite pomegranate-red scarf. And since then, I've added five gum wrappers, three bendy straws, sticks from a hike up Ridge Mountain, Wade Pond, and a walk with Charlie, a yellow plastic fork, half a red, white, and blue plate with a picture of fireworks on it, and a butterscotch candy wrapper. I've also filled the seven boxes in the closet, the three other under my bed, and most of my school locker.
Today, I drop in one teeny-tiny yellow sock.
A little piece of Izzie.
For me.
To keep.
The chapters are short but thoughtfully written. Chapter headings reveal key moments within those pages. Each one ends with words you want to remember. Each one begins with the next moment in Maggie's day to day world. Here is a passage from the end of a chapter and the beginning of the next chapter.
"I got a call from Rita," Mom says. "The birth parents have selected an adoptive couple, and I need to bring Isabelle back to Rita's office so they can give her to her forever family."
"When?"
"Saturday."
So now I know.
Forever ends tomorrow.
The panic rises from the place that holds my forever good-byes.
To Nana.
And now, Izzie.
I hug this little human who smells like powder, and a tear slips out. I don't want to let her go. Don't want to be forgotten.
As she did in her two previous books, Elly Swartz places true-to-life characters addressing tough situations in this title. She provides us with the opportunity to learn with the people residing in her pages. We laugh with them, and cry with them. This is how books leave a mark on our hearts.
Whether you read this book, Give and Take written by Elly Swartz in one sitting or a little at a time, individually, with an entire class as a read aloud or with a book group, you will be moved by the story of Maggie, her family and friends. At the close of the book Elly Swartz includes Maggie's Playlist, A Note on Hoarding in Children from Dr. Kathleen Trainor, Clinical Psychologist, an author's note, and information on hoarding in children, adoption and short-term foster care and eastern painted turtles. This book needs to find a place on your professional and personal bookshelves.
To learn more about Elly Swartz and her other work, please visit her website by following the link attached to her name. Elly has a page dedicated to this title on her website. It includes a curriculum guide and a journaling activity. Elly Swartz has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. At the publisher's website you can read an excerpt. The cover is revealed along with a chat at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's site, Watch. Connect. Read.
