Scoob's grandma has a secret. Well she actually has a lot of them. Family secrets play a big part in this middle reader book about a road trip between a grandson and his grandma. Suspended from school for fighting and computer hacking, Scoob (William) is ready to get out from under his dad's disapproving looks and into his grandma's newly purchased RV.
Grandma soon tells Scoob that she's trying to recreate a trip she took in 1968 with his grandfather. A trip from Atlanta to Juarez, Mexico which was complicated by the fact that Scoob's grandmother is white and his grandfather was black. With the use of The Green Book - a travel companion for blacks trying to travel in the deep south - Scoob's grandparents made it most of the way but had to turn back. His grandmother is now determined to see the trip to its end, so long as Scoob's father doesn't get in the way and insist they come home. And when Grandma starts to get funny about tossing her phone, well, Scoob starts to get suspicious that there is more to Grandma than meets the eye.
The book was a great reminder that middle readers are starting to see their elders as full humans. They start to realize flaws in the grown ups around them. It's such a confusing and disorienting time in the life of an adolescent. Most children grow up and figure out a way to forgive their parents and elders for being flawed humans. Some can never let that go. It was great to see Scoob struggle with this issue. It was also a good way to build on the history of racism for kids who may be familiar through earlier picture books and other readings. The reader gets to watch Scoob create links between the racism his grandparents experienced and his own.
4/5 Stars.
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