Review of Partly Cloudy by Tanita S. Davis

Partly Cloudy by Tanita S. Davis
Format:  E-ARC 
Publisher:  Katherine Tegen Books 
Number of Pages:  240
Publishing:  September 7th, 2021
Source:  Review copy provided by Keely Platte from SparkPress

Opening lines: "It should have been raining."  

It's Madalyn's first day of summer vacation and she should be excited, instead she's brooding over how bad of a year her sixth grade was.  It was a year of losses, first her dog died, and then her best friend moved away.  If that wasn't enough, her dad was laid off from work necessitating a move from their comfy townhouse to an older house on the other side of town.  The only saving grace about the move is Madalyn won't have to attend Robinson Howard Middle School anymore.  Mom says her and dad have a plan that will improve everything, but when the plan entails moving in with her seventy three year old great uncle,  Papa Lobo, Madalyn is hesitant.  Sure, Papa Lobo is pretty nice, and as mom suggested, he could use a little help around the house.  He even enlisted his neighbor's son, Jean to help get Madalyn settled at her new school.  How can she turn Papa Lobo down when he did open up his place to her?   

Madalyn's first day of school starts out kind of rocky when she slips and has an embarrassing fall that is witnessed by the entire school.  Then she finds out she's the only black girl in her class, and Carlin and Sydney make her feel very unwelcome.     But then Madalyn meets a few of the other girls from class and things seem to be looking up.  Natalie seems like a promising friend, until she makes a comment about being scared of "boys like that" when she sees Madalyn with Jean.  At first Madalyn feels weird about Natalie's comment, and then she gets angry.   Despite Natalie having one bad experience in the past, there's no reason for her to now develop a prejudice toward all black boys.  Madalyn is hurt by Natalie's off handed comments and isn't sure she want's to be friends with someone who makes racist comments like that.  But when a wildfire starts making their way toward their town, Madalyn decides to hold off having a "tough conversation" with Natalie until after their families are safe.

I've seen Partly Cloudy described as a quiet story and I would agree, with the caveat that it is also an important story.  The story tackles the issue of racism with sensitivity, highlighting Natalie's misjudgments and Madalyn's feelings with an authentic real life feel.  I also love how the author describes that the onus is not on Madalyn to explain or help Natalie to not have these racist thoughts but rather Natalie is the one who has to do the work.  Madalyn is the one to decide whether their friendship is worth having a hard conversation, and letting Natalie know how she feels.  I also loved how the story reflected a carrying family, Papa Lobo, Madalyn's mom and dad, Natalie's older sister and the many neighbors.  The wildfire added an element of danger, with Madalyn's mom travelling to Papa Lobo's and Natalie's sister being unaccounted for during the height of the fire, it also showed how situations like this can bring people together.  Overall, this was a very enjoyable read.