Garvey in the Dark

Gr 4-8–Garvey found his voice in Garvey’s Choice, his singing so splendid his father “once said./ “Your voice could wake/ the dead.” Shippy returns to narrate prodigious poet Grimes’s companion title, again written in modern tanka, as Garvey faces 2020’s COVID-19 lockdown. Schools close, activities are cancelled, shopping devolves into a toilet-paper-grabbing stampede. Garvey’s mother must adjust to teaching on screen, as Garvey and older sister Angie endure virtual learning. Only Dad is allowed to leave, until the “Invisible Beast” makes him a dangerous prisoner in his own house. Outside, racist violence continues to kill—“Breonna Taylor,/ George Floyd, and way too/ many others.” Garvey must reclaim his inspiring voice: for family, justice, himself. Shippy consistently imbues Garvey with deliberate determination, confronting frustration and fear amidst unprecedented uncertainty.