Dig

Dig 

Title: Dig 

Author: A.S. King   

ISBN: 978110994917  

Publisher: Dutton Books  

Copyright Date: 2019  

Genre: Young adult fiction, Family,  

Awards or Honors: Michael Printz Award Finalist and Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner  

Reading Level: Teenager, young adult  

Plot Summary: The story starts in 2018 and follows the Hemmings family across multiple generations and their issues in their lives. Some characters are introduced with names, like brothers Jake and Bill, while others are introduced simply as a girl named The Freak and another named The Shoveler. The characters are dealing with issues of bullying, moving to new places, and not belonging. Later parts of the book introduce characters like Malcolm, his dad, Loretta, and other characters. People like Jake, Bill, Malcolm, Loretta are revealed to be related, and the book details their relationship with grandparents, Gottfried and Marla Hemmings. Secrets are revealed and it turns out some of Gottfried and Marla’s children are racist and no longer speak with other siblings in the family, permanently scarring the family. The grandchildren have now all come together at Gottfried and Marla’s place and are discovering secrets about previous generations. They discover that they have a cousin, The Freak, who is dead and has come back to have someone find her body. The rest of the cousin’s search for her and find her body and discover that her killers are Jake and Bill from Pennsylvania.  

Author Background: A.S. King is an award-winning author from Reading, Pennsylvania. She grew up on a property with a cornfield, and after living in Ireland for several years, she now lives back in Pennsylvania. She is on the faculty staff of the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She also spends time traveling the country speaking at schools and college about books and writing.  

Her books include Dig, The Dust of 100 Dogs, Still Life with Tornado, I Crawl Through It and Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future. Most of her books are written for teenagers age 14 and above, although she does write books specifically for middle school aged students. Her advice for aspiring writers is to read and write a lot, don’t rush, and to always to always continue to write. (About A.S. King, 2020). 
 

Critical Evaluation for Book: The writing is told from a narrative perspective throughout most of the book. Many of the chapters are short and are one or two pages and read more like journal entries. The characters and narratives after every chapter constantly switch, which leaves the reader at times having to remember what happened the last time these characters were mentioned. This style has both its benefits and drawbacks. Themes throughout the book include belonging, high school struggles, and issues of race and class in white America. There are so many people and different situations and plots that make it confusing for the reader to follow the story. While the writing and story has lots of details and good plots, the format of the book makes it hard to always keep track of what’s going on overall. The work is effective about highlighting issues teenagers face, white supremacy, family struggles, and life in America. The story is also mainly told from a white perspective and seems to be written for white people.  

Creative Use for a Library Program: This book could be used in a library education program to talk about race and how it affects families and society. Race has become more of a discussed subject, such as the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality. Race has previously been a taboo subject, but it is important to discuss how race affects everyone, including in subtle ways. This book can be a great starting point to discuss how race and racism might affect your family.  

Speed-Round Book Talk: The Hemmings family started out as small potato farmers, and within two generations have risen to become a regular white middle-class family. However, the family hides secrets about themselves from the younger generation, who have no idea about some of their dark secrets. The story begins with the family members scattered across America. As the newest generation of cousins find each other and learn about their family they will dig up secrets that no one was expecting.  

Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation: There are no challenges currently, although there could be potential challenges for depictions of violence. I would argue it is an award-winning book that needs to be available to discuss issues of race and how it can affect families.  

Reason for Inclusion: I included this book because it is a unique and award-winning book that shows how far race can affect a family. The book can also be used as a starting point for discussion about race in America and why it affects everyone. The book is also an example of a white author discussing issues of race and presenting issues of race to other white people, helping to lead conversations.   

About A.S. King. (2020). A.S. King. Retrieved on October 16, 2020, from https://www.as-king.com/about  

King, A.S. (2019). Dig. Dutton Books.