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Playing the Cards You're Dealt

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"With a deft hand, Johnson shows us there's no such thing as "too young" when it comes to questioning big ideas like manhood, or even family." –Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author of Look Both Ways and Stamped

Literary powerhouse and Coretta Scott King Honor- and Boston Globe / Horn Book Honor-winning author of The Parker Inheritance Varian Johnson explores themes of toxic masculinity and family legacy in this heartfelt, hopeful story of one boy discovering what it really means to be a man.

SECRETS ARE ALWAYS A GAMBLE

Ten-year-old Anthony Joplin has made it to double digits! Which means he's finally old enough to play in the spades tournament every Joplin Man before him seems to have won. So while Ant's friends are stressing about fifth grade homework and girls, Ant only has one thing on his mind: how he'll measure up to his father's expectations at the card table.

Then Ant's best friend gets grounded, and he's forced to find another spades partner. And Shirley, the new girl in his class, isn't exactly who he has in mind. She talks a whole lot of trash — way more than his old partner. Plus, he's not sure that his father wants him playing with a girl. But she's smart and tough and pretty, and knows every card trick in the book. So Ant decides to join forces with Shirley — and keep his plans a secret.

Only it turns out secrets are another Joplin Man tradition. And his father is hiding one so big it may tear their family apart...

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Dion Graham makes every audiobook he narrates into a special event, and his charisma just overflows in this one about Ant, a 10-year-old boy from South Carolina. Ant is obsessed with winning his community's annual spades tournament--and living up to the expectations of his gambling, alcoholic father. When Ant's best friend and spades partner is grounded, Ant finds an unexpected partner, Shirley, the new girl at school, who is distractingly pretty and plays a mean game of spades. Graham imbues each character with personality--from Ant's quiet, thoughtful charm and his father's larger-than-life presence to Shirley's snooty self-confidence. But the standout is Graham's vivid portrayal of the omniscient narrator who is watching Ant's struggles and contextualizing them within his Black community. S.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from September 20, 2021
      Johnson (Twins) addresses themes of toxic masculinity, family, and legacy in this vividly told novel centering Black 10-year-old card shark Anthony “Ant” Joplin. As he starts the fifth grade in South Carolina, Ant is preparing for the Oak Grove annual spades tournament. The game is a family tradition in the Joplin house, and Ant, whose play was “less than satisfactory” the previous year, wants to live up to his champion brother’s success and make their father proud. Ant practices with the help of his trash-talking best friend, Jamal, and meets new schoolmate Shirley, from Texas, who proves to be just as good at spades as Ant. But as Ant’s father, who holds a limited view of masculinity, begins to spiral into online gambling and alcohol abuse, and Jamal’s teasing becomes hurtful, Ant teams up with Shirley for the game, juggling compassion and disappointment as things grow worse on all sides. Via an omniscient, “mostly hands-off” narrator who dynamically breaks down the “great African American institution called spades,” Johnson deftly and realistically portrays family, friend, and classroom dynamics alongside lively descriptions of the beloved game. Ages 8–12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

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