Genius Jolene

Genius Jolene, by Sara Cassidy, is an early chapter book exploring themes of family, acceptance, and forgiveness. The chapter book also includes many illustrations by Charlene Chua which bring to life the emotional world of the story’s characters. The text, along with its illustrations, will engage young readers, especially those who may struggle with reading. The bright cover and illustrations capture the emotional world of the characters and allow young readers to better comprehend and contemplate Jolene’s story.

Genius Jolene takes place during a road trip eight-year-old Jolene and her trucker father embark on in his 18-wheeler. Through Jolene’s first-person narration, children will come to understand her feelings about her mother and father’s divorce, her father’s coming out and identifying as gay, and life with his male partner. Readers will also come to understand Jolene’s complex feelings as she describes what her life is like being divided between her parents’ homes. In the story, Jolene is also confronted with homophobia when she and her father help a mother and her young son who are in a road accident. As Jolene grapples with feelings of anger towards the woman’s homophobic reaction, Jolene’s father teaches her how to forgive and move on when they decide to visit the woman in the hospital.

Jolene is a relatable, curious, and insightful child protagonist, one that young readers will be able to relate to. Throughout the road trip, her father refers to her as Genius Jolene whenever she has a good idea or makes and clever observation. Her journey in Genius Jolene also includes interesting facts about life on the road for truckers and how they deliver important cargo over long distances. Jolene and her father engage in a tradition of ordering and rating one type of food in restaurants they stop in along their journey. On their way to Los Angeles to deliver rolls of newsprint, they decide to rate onion rings at each food stop. At the end of the story, the author includes a recipe for (oven baked) onion rings that readers can try making. Jolene’s enjoyable and insightful journey makes the complex themes of family, acceptance, and forgiveness accessible to young readers through easy-to-read text and spirited illustrations.