Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush Book

Virginia Hamilton had an uncanny ability to authentically express the imagination and terrors of childhood. She also--seemingly effortlessly--introduced African American culture and vernacular into her books in a way that is a little less rare today. This book won the Newbery Honor in 1983.

Tree lives in an apartment with her brother Dab, who has exceptional needs. Their mother, Vy, works away from home and comes when she can to bring money and food to her children. There is another central character, Miss Pricherd, a nearly homeless older lady who Vy pays to clean the apartment and check on the kids. Tree resents Miss Pricherd's interference and what she sees as her laziness. Tree is busy working overtime to go to school, cook meals with what food supplies they've got, and keep her and her brother afloat, more or less.

Tree and Dab live in a world on their own. I can't think of another book that illustrates how two siblings who are the victims of neglect and abuse form a bond that is stronger and more dependable than anything else in their lives.

But this is not a book based solely on the sufferings of the present world. Tree falls in love with "the most beautiful dude in the world." Turns out, he's a ghost with a connection to her family called Brother Rush. Brother Rush appears to Tree and Dab in a spare closet/small room of their home. Standing in the middle of a table, he holds one hand to his ear and carries a fascinating looking glass in the other hand. (The image reminded me of Jean Cocteau.) Brother Rush shows the siblings scenes from their early childhoods with Vy and their deceased father that are sometimes freeing, but also horrifying.

I won't give anymore away. I will say that Dab is a very well-developed character with a disability. Tree cannot stand for anyone to call him the r-word. That's not how she sees him. She does not resent taking care of him, even though it is too much for a person of her age. Vy's often cruel rejection of her son, who she calls "the boy," is terribly realistic. There is an undercurrent of the feelings of love and hatred between children and their parents which makes the book explode in certain scenes.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is Tree's relationship with Miss Pricherd. Tree works overtime to explain away the image of the ghost in the table when the older lady catches a glimpse of him and faints. Their relationship, one of two misfits who see and understand more than others, develops very nicely.