NOBODY'S FAMILY IS GOING TO CHANGE
by Louise Fitzhugh
(FSG)
I'm not sure if there's a polite way to say this, so I'm not even going to try: Louise Fitzhugh had balls. I ask you, who else could get away with a character calling her 7-year-old brother "faggot" on page two of a middle grade novel? Here's the setup:
He may be "only" seven, but Willie already knows right down to his toenails that he wants to be a dancer more than anything in the world. His older sister, Emma, aspires to be a trial attorney, and couldn't care less about her little brother's dreams. However, their bigshot lawyer father is far less than thrilled with both their plans. When Willie inadvertently auditions for a Broadway show, the dominoes begin stacking and falling in ways neither Willie nor Emma could have anticipated.
Things learn toward didacticism near the end, and there's more telling (as opposed to showing) than I usually care for in a novel, but geeze Louise, the righteous indignation these obtuse parents provoked in me trumped all of that. I can't remember the last time I wanted to shake two imaginary people by their shirtfronts so badly. And as always with Louise Fitzhugh, the unflinching keenness of the kids' personalities makes for a no-nonsense story that bites back.
