Book Review: Dream Catchers, POPS the Club Anthology, edited by Amy Friedman

Dream Catchers, POPS the Club Anthology

by Amy Friedman (and others) (YA PB (Non-Fiction) Friedman)

 

In the United States mothers and fathers go to prison at troubling rates. One of every 12 American children, more than 5.7 million kids under age 18, have experienced parental incarceration at some point during their lives. (https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/6148/) It’s an issue that hadn’t crossed my radar until I picked up Dream Catchers, POPS the Club Anthology. I was attracted to the essays because of my interest in first person views of the childhood experience.

 

The authors, poets and artists in this anthology have parents or family that are incarcerated and they are striving to find their own ways to deal with this pain in their lives. They share their resilience and wisdom through pieces about navigating change and overcoming adversity.

 

One of my favorite essays is by John Rodriguez, who shares how he feels when slips out of his house at night and how his art is an escape from the negative factors in his world. Another favorite is by Julian Izaguirre, who invites us to paint our own version of his life, and challenges us to use the tools he’s been given to paint a different picture than what we assume. The poem Visiting Day by Kei’Arri McGruder, is poignant and heartbreaking. So many of these pieces deserve deep consideration. We often assume that childhood is carefree, when in reality so many children are experiencing things that are nearly impossible to fathom.

 

Dream Catchers is the seventh volume produced by POPS clubs. It is a fascinating lens into the lives of teenagers with incarcerated parents. As with any compilation of material by teenagers, there’s a range of polish in the works, but the depth of feeling is consistent all the way through.

 

For more information on POPS Clubs: https://popsclubs.org/.

 

[ publisher’s official Dream Catchers web page ]

 

Recommended by Carrie K.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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