Playing the Cards You're Dealt

Playing the Cards You're Dealt
Varian Johnson
Scholastic, 2021
309 pages
Grades 5-8
Realistic Fiction

In order to impress his father, who has been acting strangely lately, Ant is determined to win the yearly neighborhood Spades tournament. He and his best friend, Jamal, have been practicing all year in order to redeem their disastrous failure from the year before. When Jamal gets into a fight in school, he is no longer allowed to play. Ant must find another partner-and quick. He goes for his new classmate, Shirley, who he has previously played and knows her way around the game. Only, will Jamal's feelings be hurt if he gets a new partner and will the other guys tease him if he plays with a girl? Meanwhile, Dad's erratic behavior points to a relapse in drinking and gambling. Mom becomes fed up and kicks Dad out of the house. Ant is grateful for the peace, yet misses Dad and has conflicting feelings about his beloved father. Maybe if he invites Dad to the Spades tournament he will reconnect with Mom and be so impressed with his son that he will give up his bad habits? Will Ant's plan work, especially once other complications arise?

Eclectic children's writer, Johnson, offers a contemporary new title with a lot to say. Ant is dealing with the complications of growing up, including friendship troubles, being the shortest guy, and his first crush, all while trying to understand his father's addiction and his feelings towards his beloved Dad. All of this plays out in front of the backdrop of a neighborhood Spades tournament, placing the story deep within an African-American neighborhood cultural context of which I formally knew very little about. The game of Spades is explained, with all of it's trash talking and strategy, without distracting from the plot. At some point I realized that there is an undisclosed narrator, who becomes identified by book's end. Although the unknown narrator adds an extra layer to the book, it may confuse young readers and could have been a bit more developed. Also, the actual tournament proves to be a bit anticlimactic, becoming a vehicle for the "real" story of Dad's addiction to play out. Johnson includes resources at the end of the volume for kids dealing with adults with gambling and alcohol problems. Through it all, Johnson creates a likable protagonist to whom many young people will relate. My heart ached for Ant in many places of this story and I think young readers will feel the same.