millinocket's Full Review: Lisa Graff - The Thing About Georgie: A Novel
What defines a person? Such an unanswerable question. But for children, the answer can often be as simple as hair color or being able to make a free throw. Those surface characteristics are the currency of the playground, serving to empower or weaken, cause scorn or admiration, all without the individual having to do much of anything. Of course, the exact same thing can be said for adults and the cults of celebrity and personality, but for now, let's assume that it is children who have not yet learned to delve deeper than the outer layer. One way to help them do just that is to introduce them to a character with such a unique defining feature that they have to actively work to overcome their initial assumptions. We're given just such a character in The Thing About Georgie.
In Georgie's world, everyone has a "thing". The thing about his friend Andy is "that he's Italian". Of course, Georgie and Andy are best friends, he knows that there is a lot more to Andy than just his ethnicity, but that's how he thinks of him - Italian. His home and family support that analysis with their language and traditions. But what about Georgie? What's his "thing"? Well, on the first page of the book, in a different font and from a different narrator (the rest of the book is told in third person from the point of view of Georgie) we get a task. We're told to raise one arm, cross it over our head and touch our opposite ear. Easy enough - but not for Georgie. "The thing about Georgie is that he is a dwarf." And yes, for the sensitive minded out there, the term "dwarf" is the one used. So Georgie cannot touch his ear over his head - his arms are too short. Throughout the book we get occasional breaks where we are asked to do a task and then told how easy or difficult it is for Georgie. This is the primary way author Lisa Graff introduces us to Georgie's physical world, using the story to introduce us to his personality and his current predicament. It's a brilliant touch of personalization as the young reader travels the house measuring counters and chairs to see which Georgie could reach or sit in. It gives a real feel for the challenges facing Georgie - challenges that would never occur to the reader - as well as keeping the "tutorial" out of the main narrative. They do disrupt the flow of the story a little, but are so interesting that they make us more engaged in the rest of Georgie's story, not less.
The story revolves far less around Georgie being a dwarf than it does his being a regular fourth grade kid. He deals with jealousy both at home (a new sibling) and at school (a new kid befriended by Andy), tries to deal with the one kid in his class that he really does not like and copes with insecurity. His insecurities are tied to his physicality in some ways, but in others are universal - he's a kid being a kid. He's also not immune from the perils of stereotyping, even though he faces it every day himself. His pigeonholing of each person's "thing" - including his own - becomes limiting and it takes him some time to realize that. His parents are musicians, his best friend is Italian, Jeannie is the meanest kid in school and Georgie just happens to be a dwarf. We walk a few steps in his shoes and discover they aren't so very different from our own.
Mininocket chose this book at her spring book fair. Here's what she has to say about The Thing About Georgie: "One thing that I really liked about The Thing About Georgie was how they gave you some idea of how things were from Georgie's perspective. I think both boys and girls would like it." She really keyed into the activities sections of the book and was indeed measuring chairs and having me touch one ear with the opposite hand. She's never had a classmate who is a dwarf and had many questions as she read the book. Most of them were answered within the text as the book progressed and the few that weren't we discussed together. She found herself very intrigued by Georgie and as she got further into the book her comments became less about his stature and more about his life and what he must have been feeling. As I read it I found myself wondering how he would feel about his sibling once it was born, and how his parents would deal with those feelings. I also noticed a lot of parallels between Georgie and Jeannie (the meanest girl in school) - everyone has burdens to bear, some are just more visible than others.
The story and vocabulary are suitable for mid to late elementary kids - older kids will probably find it too easy, younger kids will grapple with some of the concepts even if they can handle the text. The Thing About Georgie is perfect for kids who are at an age where they begin to really take notice when someone is different and helps them remember that the externals never tell the whole story about who a person is on the inside. The shifts in focus from the story to the reader during each "activity" serve to educate and make concrete some of the challenges faced by others every day. As we discussed counters being too high for Georgie, mininocket mentioned that the same would be true for a child in her school who is confined to a wheelchair. The book made her think outside her own experience and that can only be a good thing - at any age. She's also absolutely right - the book would be good for either boys or girls, something not all that common. Five stars and a hearty recommendation for The Thing About Georgie.
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