Bibliographical information:

Fitzhugh, Louise. Nobody's Family Is Going to Change. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1974.

Brief summary:

Eleven-year-old Emma Sheridan wants to be a lawyer when she grows up. Her seven-year-old brother Willie wants to dance. But their father has no patience for women lawyers, and doesn't want his son to dance. To him, dancing is a profession out of the African American past, and a painful and unhappy way of life. Emma and Willie struggle with their father's disapproval, and try to figure out how to negotiate between their desire for his approval and their own dreams.

Comments:

This is a very painful book. As the title explains, "Nobody's family is going to change," and many of the kids in the novel have to learn to stop seeking approval from their parents.

Grade/Age level:

Grades 5 and up

Cautions:

As I've noted, this book is quite painful. Unlike the flawed parents in The Long Secret and Sport, Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan are not caricatures. Because Fitzhugh offers insight into the experiences that have shaped their limitations, those limitations are more disturbing.

If you like this book, you might also like . . .

Danziger, The Cat Ate My Gymsuit

--Lisa Gordis

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