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OLDER FICTION
Colbert, Brandy

The Voting Booth

295 pp. | Hyperion | July, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-368-05329-7 $18.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-368-05368-6
(2) YA Marva Sheridan is an eighteen-year-old activist who can't wait to vote in her first election. Fellow high school senior Duke Crenshaw also plans to vote, though he's more lukewarm. When Duke is turned away at the polling station, bystanding Marva convinces him to join her "on a mission for democracy," in an effort to have Duke cast his vote before the polls close--and before his band's first paying gig. Having canvassed neighborhoods and helped people register to vote, Marva, whose hero is Fannie Lou Hamer, is poised to follow the necessary steps on Duke's behalf--steps that become increasingly convoluted. What follows is a whirlwind of activity (the pacing can be frenetic at times), presented in alternating first-person narration, involving familial and romantic relationships, women's rights, race relations (Marva is Black; Duke is biracial), lost pets, and guilty secrets. While the ballot is described as an important one, the brief references to issues including immigration reform, prison reform, and gun violence--which is of personal importance to Duke's family--don't identify (or limit) the story to one specific election. Colbert has created a work that highlights both the methods and the stark effects of voter suppression, particularly for people of color.
Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2020

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