There Goes the Neighborhood

Lorraine Douglas is the youth services co-ordinator at the Winnipeg
Public Library.

This novel opens with Ivy and Carla spray-painting “No More of Your
Monster Houses!” on the outside of a house under construction. The
graffito reflects the tensions in their community over the building of
large homes for immigrants from Hong Kong—homes that conflict with the
values of the longtime local residents. After Carla moves away, Ivy
becomes friends with Jennifer Au, a recent immigrant. The friendship
forces Ivy to examine her feelings about racism. The neighborhood soon
becomes embroiled in a dispute over the removal of sequoias at the house
that once belong to Ivy’s grandmother but is now owned by Jennifer’s
uncle.

This interesting first novel for students at the upper-elementary level
could be used in a classroom in conjunction with Paul Yee’s Breakaway,
which also explores prejudice against Chinese-Canadians. The growing
friendship between Jennifer and Ivy is well developed, as are the
changes in Ivy’s perceptions of the Chinese. A number of other issues
examined in the novel—including the loss of Ivy’s grandmother, urban
ecology, honesty, and peer pressure—are not as fully realized as the
main theme. The cover painting by Ron Lightburn dramatically reveals the
tensions explored in the novel; unfortunately, the type size is too
small for readers at this age level. Recommended.