The Center of the Universe

Written by Ria Voros

KCP Loft (An imprint of Kids Can Press)

978-1-5253-0038-7

512 pp.

Ages 14-18

April 2019

...we slam into people around us, invisibly, all the time. Through things we say and don't say. What we do and don't do. That we are slowly changed by the constant bombardment. That we consume and are consumed, until we become products of our interactions, made of old and new parts, simultaneously broken and healing. (pg. 351)

When her mother, GG Carter, celebrity and news anchor, goes missing, seventeen-year-old Grace's world becomes warped, though not shattered. She'd already been arguing with her mother who is obsessed with her reputation and her work, often putting it before her family, even missing out on important events like Grace's astrophotography exhibit. (Grace is a budding astronomer, an active member of Star Club and a fan of Elizabeth Tasker.) Though Grace thinks her mother has been more stressed lately, it's evident that her mother has been keeping her cards close to her chest for awhile, and Dad even wonders if GG just needed some time away. But when Grace's dad gets a text from GG that reads "I'm not coming back. Don't look for me. Goodbye." (pg. 50), which he is convinced didn't come from her, Grace begins to pull memories and evidence together to learn what truly happened to her mother.

In tandem with her mother's disappearance, Grace is connecting with her crush, Mylo McLean, who has his own family issues including a powerful mother whose parenting causes him much stress. Together Grace and Mylo support each other knowing the struggle of having well-known mothers but, when Mylo admits that his father has been gone for five years and may be living on the street, the two realize that being in limbo puts them in a similarly unique place, the Perpetual Waiting Room (PWR).

He could sit in my PWR with me because we actually shared the waiting room. We were sitting against the same wall, staring at the same old magazines, waiting for different people to come through the door. (pg. 201)

The Center of the Universe may revolve around GG Carter's disappearance as her family struggles to learn what happened to her and then to reorganize upon her return home but she is not the center of Grace's universe. Her actions may impact her daughter but Grace exerts her own pull on those around her. While she may not realize her impact, she still draws others to her, including her young brother, her grandmother, her friends, her love interest and even her mother, and it's her story that Ria Voros has appropriately made the focal point. There is much discussion about perspectives and perceptions, especially with regards to GG Carter's back story, but Ria Voros makes Grace a compassionate and astute teen, especially as she attempts to process what she learns about her mother, while choosing what and whom she needs in her own life.

Ria Voros has written an extraordinary young adult novel about a mother-daughter relationship that is turned inside out but, first and foremost, The Center of the Universe is a coming of age for Grace as she learns who she is, with and without her mother, and that she is a star in her own universe.

Ten Cents a Pound

Written by Nhung N. Tran-Davies

Illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-056-8

24 pp.

Ages 5-9

April 2018

I defy anyone to read Nhung N. Tran-Davies' text in Ten Cents a Pound and not be moved to tears by a mother's willingness to work at gathering coffee beans so that her child could have a better life. All the more poignant is the response from the child who recognizes her mother's struggles and does not want to leave her in order to pursue an education elsewhere. Their dialogue, told with love and admiration and respect, is the story of Ten Cents a Pound. 

From Ten Cents a Pound by Nhung N. Tran-Davies, illus. by Josée Bisaillon

Mama, I see your hands,
Coarsened and scratched,
By the twigs and bark of the trees, row on row,
By the leaves and berries, picked one by one.
I will stay with you.

So begins Ten Cents a Pound, with a daughter seeing the toil of hard work on her mother's hands and her declaration that she will stay with her.  Ah, but her mother will have none of that.  Calling her "silly child" or "faithful child" or similar, the mother asserts that she is working so that she might put books in her daughter's hands and set her on a life beyond their mountain and villages. Still the girl cannot see past her mother's pain and hardship and repeats that she cannot leave her.  Always with great affection and fortitude, her mother vows that the girl will be set free with an education and must go beyond the confines of their village. Finally, the girl accepts the wisdom of her mother's wish for her future but contends that she will return.

From Ten Cents a Pound by Nhung N. Tran-Davies, illus. by Josée Bisaillon

Though I cry readily, not all books move me to tears. Ten Cents a Pound did so. Many parents sacrifice much for their children, though those trials are not always acknowledged, but here a child recognizes that suffering and doesn't feel like she can accept the cost of her mother's unselfishness. I don't know if physician and author Nhung N. Tran-Davies, who came to Canada from Vietnam, ever witnessed this self-sacrificing love but Ten Cents a Pound is a testament to the determination a parent can have for wanting a better future for their child.  This mother is willing to suffer the back pains, the harm to feet and hands, and declining eyesight and more just to ensure her child has an education and a better life.

Award-winning illustrator Josée Bisaillon blends the realism of the mother-daughter relationship with a lightness that belies the gravity of their circumstances. The outdoor scenes of fields and trees are grounded in the earth but give rise to the green of dreams and expectation. Even the fluttering butterflies and the child in flight suggest a journey of hope and ascendancy.

From Ten Cents a Pound by Nhung N. Tran-Davies, illus. by Josée Bisaillon

Ten Cents a Pound may be a tome that supports the idea of education as the means for freedom and advancement or a social justice story embedded in the coffee fields of Vietnam.  But, at its heart, it is a dedication to mothers and daughters who are willing to offer anything to ensure a good life for the other.