Brand-new kicks, ripped denim shorts, Supreme tee&mdashWes Henderson has the best style in sixth grade. That—and hanging out with his crew (his best friends since little-kid days) and playing video games—is what he wants to be thinking about at the start of the school year, not the protests his parents are always dragging him to.
But when a real estate developer makes an offer to buy Kensington Oaks, the neighborhood Wes has lived his whole life, everything changes. The grownups are supposed to have all the answers, but all they’re doing is arguing. Even Wes’s best friends are fighting. And some of them may be moving. Wes isn’t about to give up the only home he’s ever known. Wes has always been good at puzzles, and he knows there has to be a missing piece that will
Exploring community, gentrification, justice, and friendship Take Back the Block introduces an irresistible 6th grader and asks what it means to belong—to a place and a movement—and to fight for what you believe in.Author’s note.
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The most important things on Wes Henderson’s mind this summer are hanging out with his friends, having the newest, freshest sneakers, and preparing for his first year of middle school. Activism is the last thing he is interested in, especially because he is so often forced to participate in his parents’ protests and community service (or, as he puts it, spending his weekends around “old people”). His ambivalence turns to determination after learning that developers are eyeing his vibrant, close-knit neighborhood, including the family home his grandfather had saved for ten years to purchase. Even Wes’s lifelong friendships turn tense as the decisions to stay and fight or sell and leave put pressure on his most important relationships. Giles’s middle-grade debut is a timely, relatable story about family, friendship, community, and racism. In dealing with challenging themes around gentrification, the story capably illustrates the practice’s social costs through characters who humanize and simplify this complicated topic for young people. The underlying message: you are never too young to make your voice heard. MONIQUE HARRIS