In Rhonda Eason ‘s A LOST PENNY, teens Elodie and her sister Eva are part of a family of strong, Black women. They live with their hard-working, warm-hearted mom (“I’ve got eight jobs but one salary”), while their Aunt Gigi lives right across the hall. Elodie admires her popular older sister with her lighter brown skin and striking Cherokee features, which Eva inherited from a father she’s never known. Elodie dislikes her own unruly hair and very dark skin and all-around awkwardness. Her own dad keeps in touch regularly but superficially, as he navigates a new wife and family. The gift of an electric keyboard opens up a path for Elodie to a possible future out of her hard scrabble life. Her musical instincts are raw but brilliant, and she finds that others agree she has a truly unique talent.
A betrayal creates a rift between the sisters and leads to a misunderstanding between Elodie and her mother. Elodie is sent to live with her father and his new family and the comforting support she took for granted is now completely gone. Her stepmother is a demanding, violent, paranoid woman; her father puts little effort into clumsily trying to parent his almost grown daughter. Elodie does find good friends in this new life, but also discovers people who are eager to use her to get what they want, while tempting her to achieve her musical ambitions. Navigating that world proves to be a devastating journey but Elodie is a survivor, and she can emerge just as strong as her mother before her. While the story dwells on well-known teen angst a bit too much in places, readers ultimately can’t fail to care about the fate of Elodie, both rejoicing in her successes and suffering with her in her losses.
Author Rhonda Eason pulls readers into the world of the Elodie and her family from the early pages of A LOST PENNY, a coming-of-age story about a Black girl, her ambitions, overcoming trauma, and finding one’s true path.
~Kathleen Kenney Peterson for IndieReader