Me Three

Written by Susan Juby

Puffin Canada

978-0-735268722

224 pp.

Ages 10+

March 2022 

Reviewed from audiobook

Rodney's dad used to be famous as the author of the best-selling poker book Get Lucky and the host-poker player of Get Lucky TV who took celebrities to high-stakes poker games. Now it's because of accusations by Missy Stephenson of inappropriate behaviour. Eleven-year-old Rodney believes his dad when he says it's all a misunderstanding but his father is still at a facility, apparently to help him deal with how it feels to have his actions, like hugs, misconstrued. Meanwhile, Rodney, his older sister Kate and their mom, now using Mom's maiden name, have moved from the opulence of their life in Las Vegas to the small home of cousin Maria in Stony Butte, Arizona, four hours away.

From Me Three by Susan Juby

Rodney is desperate to connect with his best friend Larry, the son of Get Lucky TV's producer Isbell, but all his texts, etc. have gone unanswered. So Rodney writes unsent letters to Larry to tell him about life in Stony Butte and about trying to fit in and make friends. But Rodney has a lot to learn about navigating a new school that is very different from his private school Circle Square. He tries to follow Dad's "10 Rules for Living a Lucky Life" but it doesn't always work. That's especially so when Kate, who is furious with her father and believes her brother is in denial about their father, is losing weight and obsessed with her food consumption. And their mother has to take a job at an insurance company and teach Pilates in her off-hours so they can afford anything extra. And he really misses his old friend and has to keep his old life under wraps though he looks forward to when things will be back to normal.

Then things start to look up. He makes friends with Ben who comes from a family of stunt people and who gives Rodney his first taste of danger. Rodney also begins to hang out with a few other kids including Rigmor and Fisherman and Dave. But when popular Van Johnson, a wild man YouTuber, performs a song about J. Crederman and the allegations made against him, and a classmate discovers an online photo of him with Rodney, the family is devastated with being exposed and with the negative attention.

My emotions felt tired out. Like someone smeared all the colors together and now I just felt muddy.

In a time of #MeToo and social media, Susan Juby has given young readers a new perspective, taking us into the head and heart of a child whose father has been accused of sexual harassment and perhaps worse. (Details are suggested but never revealed.) Rodney's dad is a jerk, caring more about his brand, his reputation and the impact on his finances, though he is learning to say all the "right" things, but he's squirreled away in a treatment facility while his family is forced to live in diminished circumstances and under a cloud of shame and acrimony. Rodney, Kate and their mom are the heroes of their own lives, getting on with things, regardless of the "power shamer" J. Crederman. They're learning to balance the past with their present circumstances, even if Kate has become "a Death Star of bad mood." Wisely, their mom tells them that...

The best thing you will ever learn is to deal with what is versus what you wish was.

Sexual harassment and abuse are heavy topics for a middle grade novel but even more so when allegations are made involving a parent. Still Susan Juby keeps her story balanced with humour and candour. The honesty is in the plot and the humour comes through her characters. Both Rodney and Kate are cheeky and have a dry, almost dark, humour. He groans at her fashion sense–"Kate dresses like she wants to hurt people's eyes"–and she can laugh at their situation, claiming that "What doesn't kill you makes a better Instagram poet." But I would expect nothing less from Susan Juby who has won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. She makes us laugh while she makes us think and feel. 

Though the full extent of the sexual abuse perpetrated by Rodney's father is unknown, it is the driving force behind the story of Rodney, Kate and their mother in Me Three. But by making Rodney the focus of the story and giving him the voice of a child who develops from one completely in support of his father to one who wants to know the truth and then hears his father's words as sound bites of rationalizations and mandatory apologies, Susan Juby gives us a different viewpoint. She lets us lace up a pair of Rodney's shoes and deal with the aftermath of his father's misconduct as he, Rodney, experiences it, with a loss of friendship, security and support in the shadow of shame and secrecy, and yet still able to come out with a solid support system of family and friends.

Susan Juby and Susin Nielsen: Book Launches

Two authors

two new books

The Truth Commission reviewed here

We Are All Made of Molecules reviewed here

many book launch events

CALGARY 

Monday, May 11, 2015

7:00 p.m.

Indigo CrossIron 

BRAMPTON

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

7 :00 p.m.

Chapters Brampton

TORONTO (North York)

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

7:00 p.m.

Toronto Public Library, North York Central Branch 

OTTAWA

Thursday, May 14, 2015

6:30 p.m.

Ottawa Public Library, Carlingwood Branch

VANCOUVER (Kitsilano)

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

7:00 p.m. 

Kidsbooks in Kitsilano

The Truth Commission

by Susan Juby

Razorbill Canada

978-067-006759-6

272 pp.

Ages 14+

For release April 2015

The truth really doesn't need any embellishments, does it?  It is as it should be. Nothing more, nothing less.  But sixteen-year-old Normandy Pale, the narrator and writer behind The Truth Commission, a piece of creative non-fiction for her Spring Special Project at Green Pastures Academy of Art and Applied Design in Nanaimo, does recognize that,

"When you tell a story, you shape the truth." (pg. 293)

And she and her best friends, Dusk (actually Dawn) Weintraub-Lee and Neil Sutton attempt to bring some much needed truth into a world overflowing with lies.  From Aimee Danes, whose new nose and chest scream to share her new truths with the world, and the snarly office secretary Mrs. Dekker to fellow students Tyler Jones, Zinnia McFarland, and Brian Forbes, the unofficial Truth Commission trio attempt to learn the truths about everything from motivations, love interests, heritage and substance abuse. But attempts to shed light on the truth are not always easy and rarely straightforward, often with unforeseen consequences.

But Normandy is having her own crisis of truths, dealing with the return home of her astoundingly successful older sister, Keira, from the California Institute of Art and Design. While still at Green Pastures, Keira had created a massively popular graphic novel series called the Diana Chronicles, about a girl who lives with her painfully average family on Earth and travels to an alternate universe, Vermeer, where she is queen.  Except for Diana, the family resembles Normandy's family in the worst possible way, exaggerating their attributes to humiliating proportions. But something is amiss with Keira and Normandy is looking to help by getting at the truth, though the family's head-in-the-sand attitude is problematic.

The truth may be out there but it may not always be ideal to seek it out.  Susan Juby's characters, both main and secondary, demonstrate the precarious nature of the truth, though some recognize that truth sooner than later.  But their interactions with regards to the truth are what makes the story so lively, particularly with Normandy bridging the extreme differences between her friends and family when seeking the truth. What to do?
 
To be honest, Susan Juby's writing is like a Disney bandage on your heart.  It has delightful colour and humour that can hide something as simple as a paper cut (still very painful!) or a deep, festering wound.  It's not until you look under the bandage that the true depth of the story is evident.  The reader is glad for the amusing cover-up because it helps manage the pain beneath.  Even though removing the bandage can be agonizing, it must be done. Not unlike the truth.  And, in my opinion, Susan Juby's truth is the quality she attributes to some authors:

"There are the truths...when some writer puts exactly the right words together and it's like their pen turned sword and pierced you right through the heart." (pg. 10)

Susan Juby's pen is both honest and piercing in The Truth Commission, and I relished it wholeheartedly.

***********************************

Two Truths and a Lie (from yesterday's post)

If you haven't guessed yet, #3 is the lie.  Norm is short for Normandy and is all girl.  Ask Neil.

The Truth Commission: coming!

To celebrate the release this month of  

Susan Juby's newest young adult novel, 

The Truth Commission

Razorbill Canada

978-067-006759-6

272 pp.

Ages 14+

let's play a little game.

Two Truths and a Lie.  Want to play?

This is the story about easy truths, hard truths, and those things best left unsaid. (pg. 11)

I'll make 3 statements, 

two of which are true and one of which is a lie.  

Can you guess which is the lie?

1. The Truth Commission includes a character called Dusk, though her name is actually Dawn.
2. Neil, in The Truth Commission, dresses in the seedy costumes of gritty 1960s and 1970s movies.
3. Norm, the main character in The Truth Commission, is a boy who dresses and acts like a girl.

Which do you think is the lie? 

Check back tomorrow when I post my review of The Truth Commission and reveal which statement is the lie.

The Truth Commission & Republic of Dirt: Book Launches (Nanaimo, BC)

Author Susan Juby

will be launching TWO new books 

on Thursday, April 9, 2015 

3 p.m.

at 

Vancouver Island University

 Cowichan Campus Room 225

I've just finished reading her YA book  

The Truth Commission (loved it!) 

and will review it soon,

and adored the prequel to Republic of Dirt, 

The Woefield Poultry Collective (reviewed here)

Do yourself a favour and, if you're fortunate to be on Vancouver Island on April 9, 2015, take advantage of this book launch to get signed copies of both books by a very funny and talented author

The Woefield Poultry Collective

Written by Susan Juby
HarperCollins Canada
978-1554687442
336 pp.
Ages 14+
2011

Reviewed from audiobook
Audible Audio edition
ASIN: B006ODFCK0
Narrated by Carter Hayden, Kate Griffin, Jennifer Walls, Michael Fletcher
7 hours, 51 minutes
2011

Whether reading the hardcopy or ebook or listening to the audiobook of The Woefield Poultry Collective, ensure that you are in a secure location where your outbursts (n.b. plural) will not disturb others, because they will be frequent and they will be hearty. Luckily they won't be prolonged because there isn't time to laugh endlessly - the next chortle is imminent.  So you will end up laughing, looking around to make sure you haven't caught anyone's attention, continue reading and then laugh again.  Ah, it's a vicious cycle.  But, if you need to explain, just tell your audience to read Susan Juby's The Woefield Poultry Collective to fully comprehend the nature of your lack of self-control and note that it had been shortlisted for the 2012 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. 

Though an apartment-dwelling New Yorker, Prudence Burns lives by the principles and practices of environmental responsibility.  She has vermi-composting with red wigglers; she installed solar panels; she passionately sorts her waste for recycling; she buys organic, free-trade and local; and her only foray into writing, a YA novel titled, "The Sun Doesn't Always Forgive," focuses on the consequences of global warming.  Luckily for her, just as her relationship with the pompous Leo goes down the tubes and she considers her options for a career, she inherits Woefield Farm from her great uncle, Harold, her only relative and one she'd never met.

Convinced her dream has come true, Prudence embraces the opportunity to become a farmer and packs herself up to move to Woefield Farm, a scrubby piece of land off the coast of B.C.  With her passion for challenges and all things earthly, Prudence sees the limitless potential in the overgrown, rocky land with its old house, burned down barn, Bertie, the half-sheared sheep, and the elderly curmudgeon, Earl, who lives at the cabin on the property.

With her energetic charm, Prudence has no problems drawing people to her vision and to helping out, usually without them even realizing they've been snagged by her.  First, there's Hugh the cabbie who drops her off at Woefield.  Then it's Earl, the cantankerous banjo playing, TV documentary fan, who was her uncle's right-hand man, who first sticks around to protect and advise Prudence but ultimately grows to care, in his own way, for her passionate ways. Then, Seth, an alcoholic, heavy metal and celebrity gossip blogger, who has secluded himself for a few years (there was an unfortunate incident at the high school) until his mother kicks him out, joins the farm.  Finally, eleven-year-old Junior Poultry Fancier, Sara Spratt, becomes a regular fixture at Woefield after Mrs. Spratt pays to have a coop built there to house her daughter's chickens.

Prudence learns from the bank that Woefield is essentially a negative asset and she is responsible for paying the mortgage, a home equity loan and long-overdue taxes and bills.  But, far from discouraged, Prudence finds the means to make Woefield the farm of her dreams, armed only with her limitless energy, menagerie of sidekicks, and positive attitude.

The Woefield Poultry Collective has been acclaimed as adult humour but I believe that teens in high school would delight in Prudence's story, especially as Susan Juby's skills are founded in YA literature.  Prudence may be a twenty-something character, but her voice and those of Susan Juby's other characters are so distinctive and familiar that teens will revel in their humour and odd perspectives.  Seth, from whom expletives pour like beer, may be twenty-one but he's still living in his high school years since having never graduated or achieved closure after the "incident" at the school play.  Sara may be smart enough to manage in a dysfunctional family and share her knowledge of poultry practices, but she is still a child, naive enough to misunderstand Seth's drunkedness, her dad's "misappropriateness" at the bank (which cost him his job) and Earl's swearing and lack of initiative.  With Susan Juby's evocative text, the narrators on the audiobook of The Woefield Poultry Collective do not just read the words, they become their characters.  Listen to a preview of it at Audible.com to share in the flavour that is Earl.

While Prudence may seem far too upbeat and environmentally-conscious for some readers, I know a few persons just like her, and the virtue that is Prudence's is that she doesn't preach or tell others how to live their lives.  Even when Seth is falling down drunk, Prudence tries to find a way to help rather than just berate him.  She's just the embodiment of the old adage, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  Prudence makes lemonade with sparkly ice-cubes made of well water.

Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour Writing

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944), one of Canada's most famous humourists, was honoured with the creation, in 1947, of the annual Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.

The timeline for the award is as follows:

• June - November 30: Submissions accepted

• April 1: Shortlist of five titles announced

• end of April: Winner announced at luncheon

• beginning of June: Dinner for presentation of the Medal and $15000 cash prize, and $1500 for each runner-up.

As one of the five nominated titles has been written by YA author, Susan Juby, we present the shortlist for the 2012 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour alphabetically here:

• The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

• On the Outside Looking Indian by Rupinder Gill

• The Woefield Poultry Collective by Susan Juby

• Happiness Economics by Shari Lapeña

• Most of Me by Robyn Michele Levy

 Congratulations to Susan Juby on her Leacock Medal nomination.  Read the National Post article on Susan Juby here. 

The Woefield Poultry Collective

by Susan Juby

HarperCollins

336 pp.

2011