Dark Sons

Nikki Grimes's "Dark Sons" is a compelling story of loss and forgiveness as told by two young men. This novel, told all in verse draws the reader in with it raw emotion and dynamic characters.

"Dark Sons" follows the lives of the biblical Ishmael and his modern parallel Sam as they both experience a sense of abandonment when their family dynamics change. Grimes. takes the old testament story of Abraham and his sons and reworks it from another perspective. Ishmael voices his side of the story, the first son replaced by Issac and then forced to leave his home by the jealous first wife Sarah. The story's other protagonist Sam is a young African American boy whose father leaves him and his mother for a younger white women. The story follows Sam's feeling of anger and abandonment as his father remarries, has another child and, eventually relocates across the country to his final acceptance and eventual forgiveness.

I loved this novel for so many reasons and found it hard to put down for even a minute. It's heartfelt honesty and emotion was so powerful that I felt all of Sam and Ishmael's highs and lows. Dark Sons is a reminder to parents that divorce and separation is often harder than children than we think.