Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess: 12/05/17

Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess by Shari Green is a novel in freeform poetry about a girl trying to come to terms with the big changes in her life. Big changes coming: a new school at the end of sixth grade, a new house, a step dad, and step-siblings (twins).

When Macy refuses to pack her own things, her mother sends her next door to help her neighbor sort and pack her books. It's through her interactions with Iris that we get to learn the most about Macy.

Macy is deaf. She knows sign language. So does her mother. She used to go a school for the deaf but has been in a mainstream elementary school for the last four years. She has an ASL translator at school. She loves to read — just like her next door neighbor.

We also learn about Macy through her voracious reading. Books mentioned include: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, El Deafo by Cece Bell, and Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery.

The poetry and type face help to express both Macy's emotional state and the rhythm of sign. ASL has its own grammar — something that is lost when writing out dialog into standard prose. By keeping the lines short and focused on the core actions, items, emotions — there's more of a sense of how Macy is actually thinking and expressing herself.

Macy can also talk. Her mother, neighbor, and best friend (who she has a fight with for most of the book) also can talk. When people are using spoken dialog, it's show in its entirety as bolded text.

Though Macy's town is never given a name, there are enough clues to suppose it's somewhere on the north eastern edge of Vancouver Island. The author is from there and it shows in how she lays out the geography of Macy's world.

Five stars

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