Out of Darkness

Genre:

I selected Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez for the Historical Fiction category.

Target Age Group:

The target age group is 14-17 years.

Summary:

    Out of Darkness is a young adult historical fiction book written by Ashley Hope Pérez. The interracial love between a 17-year-old Mexican American girl by the name of Naomi and Wash, a 17-year-old Black young man, in a 1936 oil town in East Texas, predicts a story filled with sadness and heartbreak for these two young people. Joy is fleeting in this poignant novel and it is only found in the woods near Naomi's house. Naomi has been living with her grandparents in San Antonio since the untimely death of her mother and she is coerced, along with her lively younger twin siblings, Beto and Cari, to live with her horrid stepfather, Henry. With careful planning, Wash and Naomi explore their stolen moments of joy but when an explosion occurs at the New London School, their lives and so many others in this small East Texan town, irrevocably change and incomprehensible tragedies befall young Naomi and Wash.

Justification:

    My objective for the Book Blog #3 assignment was to select books that would enhance a library's collection of diverse books for young adults. Out of Darkness not only belongs in this group but is also a YA award winning novel. Ms. Pérez's gut-wrenching 2015 novel is a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, a Tomás Rivera Children's Book Award winner, and an America's Award winner in 2016. It was vitally important to me that at least one of the five books I chose for this assignment was to address the bigoted racist ideology of the past or present. It is crucial that our young readers read and discuss the negative impact this type of egregious thinking has done and is doing to the well-being of American society.

Evaluation:

    For this review I will be reviewing mood, plot, and accuracy. The mood is fraught with uncertainty from the inception of Out of Darkness with an explosion at the school and the establishment of color being an issue with Wash Fuller's mother's employment status. Mrs. Fuller is a Black woman who cannot be gainfully employed as a teacher in 1936 Texas if a White man needs this particular job. The seemingly acceptance of segregated laws by everyone in this small town manifests an underlying tension that contributes to the atmosphere set in this novel. Uncertainty, tension, and blatant bigotry appear to be a way of life in this novel and therefore promises to fracture any semblance of comfort due to the injustices that arise especially when certain people simply can no longer abide by the heinous rules pushed upon some of the town's citizens.

    Ashley Hope Pérez is a gifted writer. She has presented the reader with a plot-driven novel. When the explosion happens at the school, immediately the reader needs to find out who is in the building and why did it occur. The story goes back a few months before the accident takes place and reveals the love between a young interracial couple in 1930s Texas where they simply want to exist and take hold of a few moments of joy. The reader cares about the outcome of Out of Darkness because of the beautifully woven intricacies of this story. 

    The attention to detail is significant throughout this novel. The accuracy is apparent when Ms. Pérez describes the spare and simple housing where Naomi lives with her family. The household duties for a woman such as Naomi in the 1930s consists of sewing, mending, washing dishes, cleaning the house, and washing Henry's filthy clothes from his work on the oil rig. Combine all of these chores with the discrimination Naomi encounters at the town's general store and the reader will acquire an aversion to ever wishing to live in simpler times. The daily chores, the casual racism of the folks in town, and Naomi's quiet acceptance of Henry's abusive behavior speaks volumes to the young reader that 2023 may have its problems but it is still better to be alive in today's world than in 1930s Texas.

Citation:

Pérez, A.H. (2015). Out of darkness. Carolrhoda Lab Books.