Dear Great Book Guru, Next Sunday, January 26 from 3 to 4pm at the Sea Cliff Children’s Library, parents and next year’s kindergartners will gather to get together and share thoughts about the upcoming school year.  Sara Jones – president of the North Shore School Board - will be there to answer questions about the school experience.  I’m planning on being there and wondered if you had a book I might enjoy while waiting for the program to begin.  New Kindergarten Parent

Dear New Kindergarten Parent, I just finished a debut novel: SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid. The title could refer to the young preschooler Emira babysits ….or it could be Emira herself - a twenty-six year-old black woman trying to navigate her post-graduate life and find a “real” job….one  with benefits as she approaches the moment when she is no longer covered by her parents’ insurance. A fun age indeed! The novel opens with Emira and the child in a high-end grocery store where the security guard accuses her of kidnapping the child. The blatant racism is caught on camera by an onlooker who wants to share it on social media. Emira is horrified while her employer Alix awkwardly attempts to make amends. What we see is a detailed study of class and race, affluence and arrogance as Emira and Alix see their lives intersect in many surprising ways. Questions of privacy, parenting, morality, friendship, memory, and racism are but a few of the topics the author addresses.  Recommended!