World Made of Glass

Set in 1987, this short, emotionally charged novel by Polonsky (Spin with Me) follows a few months in the life of seventh grader Iris Cohen, whose father is dying of AIDS. People at Iris's largely white, private New York City school know her father is gay, but Iris hasn't told her friends, DnD players who head up an after-school Philanthropy Club, that he's sick. Surprising herself, though, she suddenly tells new kid Julian, who's just moved from Indiana and doesn't balk at the news, or at Iris's family situation--she and her mother live in the same West Village building as her father and his boyfriend. Alongside emotional first-person prose peppered with mentions of era-specific entities and people--ACT UP, Indiana teen Ryan White--acrostic poems exchanged by Iris and her father address themes of life's fragility as well as managing grief and rage. Iris's father says that writing a poem means first identifying its "beating heart"; foregrounding believable, dynamic characters and showing both the cost of inaction and fear around the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the power of activism to bring change and build community, Polonsky has done just that. Ages 10-14. Agent: Wendy Schmalz, Wendy Schmalz Agency. (Jan.)

Gr 5 Up--It's 1987, and seventh grader Iris Cohen has a secret. Everyone at school knows her parents divorced after her dad revealed that he is gay and planning to move in with his boyfriend JR, but none of them know that her dad is dying of AIDS. When her father dies far sooner than she expected, Iris is filled with anger at all the people who are scared of getting close to her (including two of her best friends) because of HIV, even though she is not infected and the virus isn't spread through casual contact. She finds some relief from her anger by joining JR at one of the ACT UP protests on the streets of New York, demanding help for AIDS victims from President Reagan, the FDA, and Anthony Fauci. She realizes with her new friend Julian that people are often willing to help once they know the facts, so she and her friends come up with a plan to educate students at their school. This beautifully written novel explores the complexity of grief while showcasing the stigmatizing fear, ignorance, prejudice, and anger surrounding the AIDS crisis in the late 1980s. Iris is a sympathetic, authentic character whose love for her father shines through in the acrostic poems they composed for each other, which appear throughout the novel. All of the main characters are white, with the exception of Iris's friend, Will, who is described as the only Black student in Iris's grade in their private school. An author's note at the end offers a brief history of the AIDS crisis and the ACT UP movement, while expressing the hope that the book will inspire readers to fight for justice in their own ways. VERDICT With its sensitive portrayal of loss, and its carefully researched depiction of a devastating time in American history, this lyrical novel is highly recommended.--Ashley Larsen