Effie Starr Zook Has One More Question

December 1, 2016
What begins as a relaxing summer finds middle schooler Effie discovering proverbial skeletons in her family's closet, er...shed. While Effie's parents are flying the first solar plane around the world, the white girl is spending her summer on the Zook family farm with her aunt and uncle. Effie's great-grandfather was the original owner of this farm and (fictional) inventor of the barf bag, so now the family is "well fixed." When she meets two neighbor kids, both also white, she gets an inkling that some folks in this rural area are not fans of her family. The kids' father, Mr. Yoder, is leader of a growing movement called Beards for America based on Effie's great-grandfather's "Precepts" (No. 1: "A man's beard is a signifier of his special place in the natural order of things"), and yet the two families aren't on speaking terms. Despite her many queries--and Effie is excellent at asking questions--the grown-ups are close-lipped about the tension between the families. After befriending the town's only black resident, Effie reconstructs the murky history of her relatives. On the surface this feels a light, sun-dappled read, but within the depths of this story lurk compelling truths about sexism and racism that give shadow, dimension, and heft to this perky yarn. Effie's growing awareness of her privilege and its origins is an appropriately complicated one. A light-feeling read that effectively delves dark depths. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-13)

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Starred review from February 1, 2017

Gr 3-5-While spending the summer with her aunt and uncle in small-town Pennsylvania, inquisitive Effie Starr Zook tries to uncover family secrets. Hailing from New York City, Effie isn't thrilled about having to spend the summer at Zook Farm while her parents fly around the world in a solar airplane. When she meets the Yoder kids and learns they are supposed to stay away from her because of "bad blood" between their families, she wonders what the story is behind that. Then she befriends Mr. Odbody, a bookstore owner and the only black person in town, who seems to know more than he will tell her. Do all these secrets lead back to her great-grandfather, inventor of the barf bag? With skilled writing and a consistently paced plot, this is an accessible and exciting story for a wide range of readers. The mystery is enticing, but the larger focus is on the interconnectedness of people despite differences and the importance of the pursuit of truth. Freeman tackles issues of class, gender, race, and politics in a way that is appropriate for the intended audience and never feels heavy-handed.

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