Review: Eddie Whatever
Eddie Whatever
by Lois Ruby
Carolrhoda Books (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group)
Category: Middle Grade
Reviewer: Shirley Reva Vernick
For his bar mitzvah project, 13-year-old Eddie Lewin volunteers at the
Silver Brook retirement home, where the residents call him “Eddie
Whatever” rather than bothering to remember his last name. Eddie expects
his “sentence” to be a bore, but at least his friend/crush Tessa is
volunteering there too. Soon, the resident seniors topple Eddie’s
assumptions about the dullness of elderly people. Their lives are filled
with secrets, courtships, the rumor of a vengeful ghost, and drama over
repeated robberies. When Eddie gets blamed for the thefts, he and Tessa
work together to solve the riddles at Silver Brook.
Filled with humor, poignancy and mystery, Eddie Whatever explores the
realities of aging in a fast-paced story that will draw in middle-grade
readers. And there’s more. When Eddie learns that one of the residents
is a Holocaust survivor, he realizes that he’s deeply connected to the
elderly through a long trail of shared history. He grasps the importance
of looking beyond oldsters’ surface faults to the trauma that may lie
underneath. How does one look deeper? By listening to their stories.
This well-crafted novel is a strong contender for the Sydney Taylor Book Award. The framework of the bar mitzvah project creates a seamless space to feature Eddie’s wise rabbi, his b’nai mitzvah class, and his actual bar mitzvah. Silver Brook is home not only to a Holocaust survivor, but to two former Jewish gangsters too. Jewish themes include respecting elders, loving kindness, friendship, and learning from everyone.
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