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Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust by Mindy Quigley and Holly Adams (Narrator)
Cloche and Dagger by Jenn McKinlay and Karyn O'Bryant (Narrator)
Come Shell or High Water by Molly MacRae and Callie Beaulieu (Narrator)
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Happy Place by Emily Henry
How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin, Alexandra Dowling and Jaye Jacobs (Narrators)
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Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo
James by Percival Everett
Murder in a Cape Cottage by Maddie Day and Rachel Dulude (Narrator)
The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg
The Rock from the Sky by Jon Klassen
Running in Flip-Flops From the End of the World by Justin A. Reynolds
The T in LGBT by Jamie Raines
The Tatami Time Machine Blues by Tomihiko Morimi and Emily Balistrieri (translator)
Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum and John R. Neill
Time After Time by Sarah Mlynowski and Christina Soontornvat
The Twelve Books of Christmas by Kate Carlisle and Kimberly M. Wetherell (Narrator)
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
Witch Hunt by Cate Conte and Amy Melissa Bentley (Narrator)
Woe: A Housecat's Story of Despair by Lucy Knisley
The Yellow Bus by Loren Long


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James: 07/07/24

James

James by Percival Everett (2024) is to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884) is to The Tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare (circa 1600) is to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard (1966) Put another way, the retelling is a way to examine the Black experience through the eyes of one of the few Black characters nearly American child is introduced to in school.

Jim narrates the book this time with the scenes from Huckleberry Finn intersecting as Huck comes in and out of his life. Yes, they do still end up on the Mississippi, floating south. They run into the Duke and the Dauphin. But this isn't Huck's boyhood adventure / coming of age story; this is Jim's inner conflict.

Jim's first person narration is written in well crafted, erudite English, instead of Twain's approximation of Huck's Missouri dialect. His dialog with characters code switches. All of the Black characters do — save for one for reasons that are explained as the novel unfolds.

James has a similar feel and plot progression as The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis (2018) in that it's about a boy traveling with a formerly enslaved adult as he tries to reunite with his family and find freedom in the north.

Five stars

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