Happy Friday everyone, and this week I have a middle grade-series to talk about to make a bit of a change for you!
The Vanderbeekers is a series of seven middle grade novels about the Vanderbeeker family. There’s mom and dad and five kids, and they live in a brownstone in Harlem. In the first book the family are at risk of losing their home when their curmudgeonly and reclusive landlord decides not to renew their lease. Across the series they face various challenges in a sort of kids on a quest sort of way, but dealing with a range of real life issues – gentrification, financial problems, family problems, growing up and (potentially) leaving home and culminating in the most serious in the final book where one of the siblings is diagnosed with cancer.
What I really love about this series is how well drawn and well developed all the child characters are. They each have distinct and different personalities and there are different relationships between then depending on their ages and their positions in the family. It feels like a very real and realistic portrait of a family. It’s also a lovely depection of a community – the Vanderbeekers are very rooted in their area, which is why the threat of losing their home hits so much in the first book. It’s not just about the fact that it is upheaval, it’s that they will find it hard to find somewhere else in their neighbourhood – let alone somewhere else that’s big enough considering their current (beloved) home is bulging at the seams already. I’m not sure the book ever used the word gentrification, but that’s what’s going on as the families who have been living in the area find themselves being priced out and squeezed out of the area. And the importance of community is a big theme through the books. In a time when the internet and online culture can make the world feel more fractured than ever, it’s great to have a middle grade book series that is set in the present, but stresses the importance of real life community and friendships.
Now I’m not going to lie, this are a little harder to get hold of in the UK. I read a lot of the series via my US library card when I had that, and then when it expired I ordered the last two in paperback as they came out – which was a year behind the hardback releases. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them in UK stores, but it’s definitely orderable if you want, and they’re also on Kindle at a sensible price – the second one is even in Amazon Kids at the moment.
Have a great weekend!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 