Summary
When Candice finds herself stuck in Lambert, South Carolina instead of her home in Atlanta for the summer with her dad and friends she’s sure they’ll be nothing do. However, a letter from a mysterious sender quickly turns things around as she and her neighbor embark on a journey to find that treasure that Candice’s grandmother searched for years ago. With the help of some community members and a few unlikely turns, Candice and Brandon take readers along with them as they discover more about Lambert’s past and seek to create a better future for the city. Readers of The Westing Game and Blue Baliett’s books are sure to enjoy this mystery that combines math and history together in the hopes of uncovering a fortune.
Evaluating Book Quality
If I were to evaluate this book using the commonly accepted practice I would likely tell you, “The Parker Inheritance is a really great book! In fact, It’s my favorite book that we have read so far. It touches on multiple issues and ideas in a way that is appropriate for students and approachable for teachers. I would consider it a must read in the classroom because there is something for everyone!” However, when evaluating a book’s quality, it is encouraged that you utilize three broad categories including: visual and verbal sensitivity, authenticity and accuracy, and ideology. Bearing that in mind, I will attempt to readjust my evaluation.
The Parker Inheritance is a book that contains something for everyone. It is tastefully written with a storyline that will captivate audiences from cover to cover. While the book’s main characters, Candice and Brandon, encounter controversial issues such as racism, bullying, and homophobia during the summer, these topics are presented to readers in a way that meaningfully drive the plot and does not push a given agenda in an overwhelming way. The author, Varian Johnson, uses visual and verbal sensitivity when describing the baby doll that was left as a threat to the Washington family.
“The baby doll’s white skin had been painted the color of midnight, with thick cherry-red lipstick smeared over its small mouth. The doll was naked, with horrible words scratched into the plastic skin,” (pp.210-211, 2018).
This description, and Chip’s realization that follows, provide readers with an effective insight about the horrible reality that the image of the doll and its words have created, but Johnson has structured the text in such a way that remains sensitive to the topic and even to readers who may have encountered this type of hatred themselves.
Another consideration when evaluating a book’s quality is how authentically and accurately it represented the world. On this end, I must applaud Varian Johnson because he does an excellent job of authentically and accurately portraying the world both in the 1950’s and 1960’s and today. The characters, in both time periods, possess thoughts and speak in ways that are accurate representations of their given realities. Their experiences and encounters are unique and relevant to them as individuals. For instance, Brandon’s encounters with the neighborhood bullies, Candice’s questions about his sexuality, and her eventual defense of Brandon as “perfect just the way he is” to Mr. Gibbs (p.311, 2018) demonstrate the authenticity with which the author has chosen to write about today’s world and current issues.
According to the article “Culturally Diverse Literature”, every book contains a given ideology that includes assumptions about how the world operates (Boyd, Causey, & Galda, p.383, 2015). In The Parker Inheritance, this ideology includes the importance of church to the African American community in southern America. The author makes a point of having parts of the puzzle intersect with the local church that the Washington family, especially Leanne, was so involved with. This particular ideology is also contrasted between Candice’s parents who seem to have differing views on the purpose and function of church. While Candice’s father seems to view the church going experience as a valuable way to be involved in the community, her mother seems to see it as an act of “keeping up with the Joneses” to which she has little time and no interest in bothering with.
Classroom Connections
I’m not sure if you can read The Parker Inheritance without being inspired to also read (or in my case re-read) The Westing Game. Because of this, I would pair the two texts while reading this book in the classroom. I would read The Westing Game after The Parker Inheritance so that students’ interest in the book is piqued and so that none of the mystery is revealed too early. While pairing these books, I would have students find connections between the two books and venture to state ways that they believe the author, Varian Johnson, may have found, and taken, inspiration from The Westing Game. I would encourage students to think about ways that they could do this themselves either in their writing, visual art, music, or videography. I might even choose to challenge them to find an “artist” (broad definition of the word) who inspires them and create a work of some sort that reflects that inspiration.
Johnson, Varian. (2018). The parker inheritance. New York, New York: Scholastic, Inc.
Boyd, F.B., Causey, L.L, & Galda, L. (2015). Culturally diverse literature: Enriching variety in an era of common core state standards. The Reading Teacher, 68(5). 378-387. https://asulearn.appstate.edu/pluginfile.php/96945/mod_page/content/19/Culturally%20Diverse%20Lit%20The_Reading_Teacher.pdf.
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