American Ace

October 26, 2015
Sixteen-year-old Connor Bianchini’s father inherited a letter from his deceased Italian-American mother revealing a startling truth: Connor’s grandfather was actually a WWII pilot named Ace. Connor’s investigation of his unknown relative leads to another revelation—Ace was African-American and probably one of the Tuskegee Airmen. As the family grapples with this news and Connor’s father’s recovery from a stroke, Connor writes his history honors thesis on the Airmen to better understand his heritage. In an author’s note, Nelson (How I Discovered Poetry) emphasizes her desire to write about the Airmen from the perspective of someone new to their story. However, the single-page poems only provide glimpses into Connor’s personality, suggesting a certain detachment from her narrator. Nelson uses Connor’s thesis to convey swathes of historical information (and photographs) in a condensed and somewhat forced way. Even so, Nelson’s powerful command of language is inarguable: “I feel like there’s a blackness beyond skin,” Connor reflects. “A blackness that has more to do with how/ you see than how you’re seen. That craves justice/ equally for oneself and for others.” Ages 12–up. Agent: Regina Brooks, Serendipity Literary Agency.

Starred review from October 1, 2015
When will the Constitution's racial fractions become a healthy whole? Multiaward-winning poet Nelson (How I Discovered Poetry, 2014, etc.) attempts to answer this still-vexing question. Sixteen-year-old Connor Bianchini casually believes in his family- and religion-confirmed half-Irish, half-Italian identity. Connor's father, Tony, finds out differently when his mother, Lucia, dies and leaves him with the inheritance of pilot's wings, a gold class ring, and a letter, in which Lucia states that Tony is the "fruit of great love" between her and an airman nicknamed Ace. Research leads Connor and his father to the discovery that Ace's class ring came from Wilberforce University, a historically black university, and his wings may have come from his service as one of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen. Whereas Connor embraces his "new" black ancestor, though, Tony and his other son (Connor's half brother), Carlo, react negatively: Carlo tells his father that "bad news should be told privately," and Tony literally has a stroke. The author's meticulous verse is the perfect vehicle to convey the devastating fragility of racial and familial identity in an America where interracial love is still divided through the problem of the color line. Readers will join Nelson's protagonist in quietly hoping for that healing, too. (Verse fiction. 12-16)

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December 1, 2015

Gr 8 Up-When she dies, Nonna Lucia leaves a letter to Connor's father, her oldest son, which reveals that he is not the biological son of her husband but rather of an American who died during World War II. It is as if Connor's father has lost himself as well as his beloved mother; he is devastated. The confusion and questions emerging from the discovery propel Connor to explore who this mysterious grandfather might have been. It emerges that he was one of the storied, heroic Tuskegee Airmen. Through 45 poems in Connor's voice, Nelson considers such matters as identity, heredity, nurture, race, and family. Connor and his father, who is teaching him to drive, have ample opportunity to probe tentatively and delicately into their feelings about such things while they're on the road. Connor's research takes on urgency after his father suffers a stroke, and his gradual recovery is deftly linked to Connor's increasing pride about their newfound heritage. VERDICT Nelson packs a good deal into these verses, and though the subject matter is weighty, she leavens it with humor and deep family affection.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2015
Grades 7-10 Inspired by her father's remarkable experiences as a Tuskegee Airman, esteemed historian-poet Nelson has aced it again. Through Connor, a young Italian American who discovers a mysterious WWII past connected to HBCU Wilberforce University, Nelson invites readers to unravel these secrets along with him. Based on facts surrounding a ring, a pilot's wings, and a letter, but lyrically fictionalized, Nelson's narrative verse moves the saga smoothly through brief sections and page-long chapters. Nelson compellingly uses Connor's required 40 hours of supervised driving instruction to force him into conversations with his depressed father, through which readers learn of Connor's grandfather, one of the Tuskegee Airmen. The meaning of heritage and legacy are expanded, just as the hearts of father and son expand to reach new understandings. Nelson openly shares the thought processes that went into this unique project in generous back matter titled How This Book Came to Be. This slice of history has been told before, but not like this.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

April 4, 2016
Sixteen-year-old Connor Bianchini’s father inherited a letter from his deceased Italian-American mother revealing a startling truth: Connor’s grandfather was actually a WWII pilot named Ace. Connor’s investigation of his unknown relative leads to another revelation—Ace was African-American and probably one of the Tuskegee Airmen. This sets Connor on a quest to find out his true lineage, a journey that brings up some answers not everyone is ready to hear. Though the premise of the book is fascinating, the production fails to do it justice. Nelson chooses to narrate this audiobook and should not have. Her voice in itself could be suitable for narration, as it has a nice lilting and languid delivery, but in narrating a tale through the eyes of a male adolescent, she does not capture his tone or voice well, which means Connor can often come across as whining. Her narrative pace does not work well with Connor. She pauses and drags out the narration unnecessarily, and she never manages to capture character voices well either. Ages 12–up. A Dial hardcover.

January 1, 2016
Nelson's talent for undergirding her poetry with historical empathy (Fortune's Bones, rev. 1/05; A Wreath for Emmett Till, rev. 5/05) is once again present in this verse novel. In forty-five poems, Nelson tells the story of Connor Bianchini, who finds out that his paternal grandfather wasn't his Nonno but rather an American WWII pilot. He researches the mysterious figure, eventually discovering that the pilot was most likely a Tuskegee Airman, and thus African American. It's somewhat exciting for Connor, but his father suffers an identity crisis as he processes the fact that his Irish-Italian heritage is not what he thought it was; that he is, in fact, biracial. However, the more the family learns about the Tuskegee Airmen (several sections are styled as part of Connor's history paper), the more proud they become: Black warriors. Potential grandfathers. / Imagine: Heroes in our family! Throughout, the poetry is unusually standardized in form for Nelson, with the title on the left-hand page and two stanzas of twelve lines of unrhymed poetry on the right. Several photographs of Tuskegee Airmen in action plus a concluding author's note polish off the bookwritten, she says, for readers who know nothing about the Tuskegee Airmen. jonathan hunt

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)