This Is Just A Test

Madalyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang have come together to write, This Is Just A Test, combining religious and cultural customs to show that we are all more alike than different.

A middle school novel that brought tears to my eyes as I read about David Da-Wai Horowitz learning some very grown up concepts about compromise, getting along and standing up for what is right. There are quite a few lessons that the reader can learn right along with David, his friends and even his adult family members.

David Da-Wai Horowitz is the product of a Chinese mother and a Jewish American father.  He lives together with his sister and parents. His Grandmother Wai Po and her small dog, Bao Bao, having recently been evicted from her apartment come to live in their house.
Granny M feeling left out of the family finds a way to move into the neighborhood also.
Granny Wai Po is feeling on the outside as the family prepares for the Bar Mitzvah with David learning Hebrew, not Chinese and the food plans for Jewish foods, not Chinese foods.

There is also a school wide, Trivia Contest taking place that involves him and his best friend, Hector and their new friend and teammate, Scott.  David also learns through this experience to negotiate when one friend wants to exclude another from the group.

Interspersed in this story of conflict and resolution is the story of the Cold War during the 1980s. Ronald Reagan is president and there are talks between the Unites States and the Soviet Union. Reagan is calling the Soviets the Evil Empire.  David's English class will be reading George Orwell's book, 1984, in 1984.    The movie, The Day After,  has just been released and the kids at school are all talking about it.   David gets to watch it and now is concerned about the future.  Will there be a war?  Will someone just push the button?  These were the major concerns of Americans during the 80s.

David's father tries to explain that in every generation there is some concern, "...the future was scary. The thing was: That future was right now and now was scary too.  My dad told me we had no idea what living in a scary world was really like.  'Try hiding under your desk and pretending that it will save you if there's a bomb.  That's what your mother and I did. Or what about the Cuban Missile Crisis? Did you learn about that yet?"  Reading to day with the current political climate in the United States it is another reminder that every president has been dealing with some unrest on the world stage.  That this country has been through turmoil before and we have come through.  Hopefully this will all work out for the best, and our children and grandchildren will read about 2017 in their history books and write literature that talks about the fear and outrage we are living with now.

This book is cleverly written to cover so many topics, world history, family dynamics, and the personal growing pains of learning about making and keeping friends and girls.  There is a common thread that works in all these categories.  There is also a sweetness about David and how all these dilemmas work out that made me cry at the end.  I think parents and pre-teens will love this book.