November 21, 2022
This clear-eyed verse memoir by debut author Van Heidrich follows the “in-between time” during which she lived in a motel with her single mother and younger siblings in the early 2000s. After attending her grandfather’s funeral in East St. Louis over winter break, 13-year-old Van Heidrich and her family arrive home in Atlanta to discover they’ve been evicted from their apartment, forcing them to move into a motel. Once winter break ends, Van Heidrich and her siblings return to school, where they try pretending that everything is normal, even though “going back to school/ from this rather abnormal place/ feels apocalyptic.” Friendship and romantic conflicts, and her father’s recent whirlwind marriage to a woman Van Heidrich barely knows, incite further emotional turmoil. As Van Heidrich shuffles between school, her father’s sterile new house in the suburbs, and the cramped motel room that she currently calls home, she confronts questions of identity and navigates anxiety regarding an uncertain future. With sincerity and care, Van Heidrich skillfully depicts the complexities of housing insecurity, financial precarity, and adolescent growing pains via lyrical text in this unflinching yet hopeful read. Ages 9–13.