The Not So Boring Letters of Private Nobody by Matthew Landis

The richly voiced third-person narrative, tightly focused through Genie’s point of view, introduces both brothers and readers to this rural African-American community and allows them to relax and explore even as it delves into the many mysteries that so bedevil Genie, ranging from 'Grits? What exactly are they?' to, heartbreakingly, “Why am I so stupid?” Reynolds gives his readers uncommonly well-developed, complex characters, especially the completely believable Genie and Grandpop, whose stubborn self-sufficiency belies his vulnerability and whose flawed love both Genie and readers will cherish.

What’s behind the “ nunya bidness door”? And is that a gun sticking out from Grandpop’s waistband? Reynolds’ middle-grade debut meanders like the best kind of summer vacation but never loses sense of its throughline. And he and Ernie will have to do chores, like picking peas and scooping dog poop. Then, he breaks the model truck that’s one of the only things Grandma still has of his deceased uncle. Next, there’s no Internet, so the questions he keeps track of in his notebook (over 400 so far) will have to go un-Googled. Teacher Landis knows how middle schoolers work, and he shows his skill here.Įleven-year-old Brooklynite Genie has “worry issues,” so when he and his older brother, Ernie, are sent to Virginia to spend a month with their estranged grandparents while their parents “try to figure it all out,” he goes into overdrive.įirst, he discovers that Grandpop is blind.

Headstrong Oliver even learns to lead with his heart-especially when it comes to Ella, who makes it skip a beat-and to see the humanity of the common participants in the Civil War. Along the way in this peppy, informational story, they not only discover many surprises about the war, such as Quaker pacifism and the impact of and on African-Americans, but their own strengths as individuals. Korean-American Kevin eventually joins Oliver and Ella, and together, the trio uses primary-source documents to research the fictional soldier’s life. Raymond Stone, a soldier who died of dysentery in Gettysburg without making it to battle. Things go from bad to worse when, instead of picking a prominent general, the white classmates are assigned Pvt. He feels a rebellion of his own, however, when his teacher also announces that their culminating activity will be a partner project and his partner turns out to be Ella, a sloppy, near-failing loner. For seventh-grader Oliver, nothing’s fair when it comes to war, first love, or group projects.įinally, after dedicating most of his young life to the Civil War-memorizing battles, generals, and dates and even spending weekends as a re-enactor-Oliver hears the announcement he’s been waiting for: his social studies class will begin its study of the divisive war.

The Not So Boring Letters of Private Nobody by Matthew Landis