My Never Ending List

It’s 1958 and there is a whole lot going on in Marlee’s life in Little Rock, Arkansas.  For starters, twelve-year old Marlee doesn’t do much talking, at least out loud. In fact people make fun of her because of this issue.  Starting middle school, Marlee knows she’s going to have some issues with the new teachers as they adjust to Marlee’s silence.  Her home situation is difficult now, since the high school closed this year.   The recent rules on integration that caused its closure, has caused major effects on Marlee’s family.  From her parents conflicting views on integration, to her mother’s job at the high school, to having her sister not going to the local high, this closing has had a ripping effect upon the Nisbett household.  Starting middle school, Marlee happens upon a new girl named Liz, who Marlee finds she likes a great deal except Liz talks a lot.  Liz tries to help Marlee open up and speak even if it’s only a few words.  Reading what these two girls do together to break the glue that held Marlee’s lips closed reminds me of the friendships I had when I was younger.  Marlee and Liz, they have this connection to each other that brings a smile to your face as you read how they share the world with one another.  The day of their school presentation, Liz doesn’t show up and Marlee has more than concern for her friend when she hears that Liz is never coming back.  How could Liz lie to her and not let her know she was an African American?  Would she ever be able to see Liz again?  Liz finally helped her speak out and she was the only best friend Marlee ever had, she can’t just let her go.

The connection that Liz and Marlee had was amazing.  Liz helped Marlee open up and those first couple words that Marlee said brought a smile to my face as I read them. Marlee kept a list in her head of all the people she actually spoke to as she was so proud of the accomplishments.  Both in the amount of words she was speaking and in whom she was speaking to.  Liz also needed help from Marlee and Marlee was able to assist Liz, which deepened their relationship and another great part of the story.  They both had a lot to deal with being only twelve and having to handle integration.  Peers and family feelings and opinions weighed heavily on their minds and hearts.  Marlee loved things having to do with numbers so this girl had my heart, as I love numbers also. She loved reciting the prime numbers when things got difficult and she tried to get Liz to use multiplication for her coping mechanism but realized that Liz was a words person.  Marlee found a way using words that Liz could rely on when she started to feel overwhelmed.  They both found their voice when they found each other.  Highly recommend this book.