Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
— "Dreams" by Langston Hughes
Title: Hold Fast
Author: Blue Balliett
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2013
Pages: 288
ISBN: 978-054-55-1019-6
I rate it 4/5 stars
Inside one of apartment in Woodlawn, lived a family who dream about having their own home someday. The larger home than their old and barely-had-rooms apartment. Home which has a cat staring outside at the edge of the window. Home where four of them will always be four.
Dashel Pearl, dad who always admires words and rhythms and adores Langston's The First Book of Rhythms and works as Library Page for History and Social Science at Harold Washington. Summer Pearl, mom who always reads stories to her children when the dad's not reading for them. Early Pearl, just like her dad, loves words and rhythms and is a genius. Jubilation Pearl, still so kids, having that cannot-zipped mouth and always babbling even the high-secret-secret of their family. (Yes, I sometimes hate this little kid. So much.) Together their family name becomes dashsumearlyjubie, combination of their nicknames. Unique? Absolutely.
This was a family of important words and their important histories. Words and life and home were all rolling together in the shell that held four.
They are four, and will always be four. Until the accident happened in the third week of January. At 4:44, a man is missing, Dash. He was riding bicycle that day but several blocks from home, squad car crashed that bicycle man. But no, no blood, no footprints, and nobody's found dead in that location. Just bike, and the notebook that says 4:44. Dash is missing. Four becomes three, and rest of the dashsumearlyjubie is shaken by that tragedy.


