{ "item_title" : "Being Clem", "item_author" : [" Lesa Cline-Ransome "], "item_description" : "The final novel in the award-winning Finding Langston trilogy from Coretta Scott King Author Honoree and Scott O'Dell Award medalist Lesa Cline-Ransome. Clem can make anybody, even his grumpy older sisters, smile with his jokes. But when his family receives news that his father has died in the infamous Port Chicago disaster, everything begins to fall apart. Clem's mother is forced to work long, tough hours as a maid for a wealthy white family. Soon Clem can barely recognize his home--and himself. Can he live up to his father's legacy? In her award-winning trilogy, Lesa Cline-Ransome masterfully recreates mid-twentieth century America through the eyes of three boys: Langston, Lymon, and, now, Clem. Exploring the impact of the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, Jim Crow laws, and much more, Lesa's work manages at once to be both an intimate portrait of each boy and his family as well as a landscape of American history. A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of the YearA Chicago Public Library Best Book of the YearA CCBC ChoiceA Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Book! A CSMCL Best Multicultural Children's Book of the YearA Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection---Praise for Finding Langston, a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book and winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction There aren't any explosions in this spare story. Nor is there a happy ending. Instead, Langston discovers something more enduring: solace.--The New York Times * This crisply paced book is full of historical details of the Great Migration and the role a historic branch library played in preserving African American literary culture.--The Horn Book, Starred Review * This is a story that will stay with readers long after they've finished it.--School Library Journal, Starred Review * The impact on the reader could not be more powerful. A memorable debut novel.--Booklist, Starred Review * A fascinating work of historical fiction . . . Cline-Ransome at her best.--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review * Finding Langston is about cultural heritage and personal growth and, at its heart, about finding home wherever you land.--Shelf Awareness, Starred Review", "item_img_path" : "https://covers2.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/82/344/604/0823446042_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "17.99", "online_price" : "17.99", "our_price" : "17.99", "club_price" : "17.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

Overview

Customers Also Bought

Details

Being Clem

On the very first page of Lesa Cline-Ransome’s Being Clem, a knock at the door brings terrible news: Clem’s father has been killed in the 1944 shipyard munitions accident that will become known as the Port Chicago disaster. Clem’s mother, unable to find anyone willing to hire a Black secretary, is soon behind on the rent, and his older sisters, busy with friends and boys, have little time for their little brother’s grief. 

When Clem skips a grade to attend middle school, he begins hanging out with Lymon, a new boy in town. But when Lymon begins to bully another new boy, Langston, who shares Clem's affinity for the local public library, Clem must make a difficult choice. Should he go along with Lymon, despite his misgivings, or stand up for the new boy—but risk losing a friend in the process?

As if all this weren’t enough for one boy to deal with, Clem's swimming lessons aren’t going smoothly either. How can Clem grow up to be a Navy man like his father when he’s afraid of the pool? Clem may know all the answers in school, but there's still so much he doesn't understand.

Although Being Clem can be read independently, fans of Cline-Ransome’s previous books Finding Langston (which received a Coretta Scott King Honor) and Leaving Lymon will appreciate the daring narrative choice to place Clem in friendships with her two previous protagonists—who are, in turn, one another's enemies. 

Cline-Ransome also fills Being Clem with rich details from 1940s Chicago, including the real-life, award-winning DuSable High School swim team, whose members were Black and against whom some white teams refused to compete. Cline-Ransome explores societal issues of race, class and gender alongside Clem's more internal struggles to express difficult emotions like fear and sadness. Being Clem gains poignancy from Clem’s personal journey as he mourns the father for whom he is named and whose legacy he hopes he will one day honor. 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Being Clem author Lesa Cline-Ransome reveals the real-life inspiration behind Clem and his friends.