The setting for Garvey in the Dark by Nikki Grimes will seem familiar to today’s readers who have experienced all of Covid and its fallout. Looking ahead to future readers, it will become historical and give a picture of the great pandemic to generations to come who did not live through it. From the beginning of the crisis, Garvey looks to a short holiday from school that turns into a long term problem with his mother figuring out how to teach remotely, his father allowed to work as an essential until he contracts Covid, and newscasts filled with the history of Emmitt Till and present day Breonna Taylor.
Woven skillfully into that setting, the likeable protagonist Garvey deals with relationships with friends, family, and community that are common to every generation. The extras come in episodes like the night his father comes home with face masks and the demand, “You go anywhere, you wear these. Clear?” Garvey’s take is “This Dad’s a little scary.” His dad becomes even more scary when he comes down with a severe case of Covid.
In signature Nikki Grimes fashion, tiny phrases produce a big picture in an amusing way. She introduces Garvey’s friend as “just Emmanuel, or Manny for short, the other tenor from chorus who sings in the key of we.”
All of this hopeful novel in verse is written in the ancient Japanese poetry form called tanka. Nikki’s description of the form and the way she used it is described in the delightful back matter. The book is worth reading once for the story line and again to see how Nikki used the tanka to make it sing. Middle graders through adults will enjoy this book.