If You Read This

August 29, 2022
In this lively Jamaica-set adventure, Getten (When Life Gives You Mangos) sensitively depicts one family’s struggles with grief and healing. Before her mother’s death from cancer three years back, Brie used to celebrate every birthday with a customary breakfast—which she chose from a list of items that included plantains, ackee and saltfish, and porridge—and island-traipsing treasure hunts assembled by her mother. Her grandmother continued the breakfast tradition, and the excursions stopped, but on her 12th birthday, Brie’s father gives her a box of letters written by her mother before her death. The first note urges Brie and Papa, with whom she has a strained relationship, to visit Brim’s island, where Brie’s maternal grandfather lived. But Brie’s hopes of mending their relationship wither when Papa chooses to work instead of accompanying her. Heartbroken but determined to honor her mother, Brie continues her adventure, yet she longs for the way things were when her mother was alive. In this tightly plotted love letter to Jamaica, Getten tenderly emphasizes treasuring loved ones while they’re still around and carrying memories after they’re gone. Ages 8–12. Agent: Alice Sutherland-Hawes, ASH Literary.