Lost and Found and A Matter of Trust (Bluford series), by Anne Schraff
Schraff, Anne. A Matter of Trust(2006), and Lost and Found(2007). NY: Scholastic.
I've just read the first two books in Scholastic's relatively new "Bluford Series," a series of novels about a group of mostly Black, urban teens who attend Bluford High School in coastal California. The first two books feature a female protagonist, fifteen-year-old Darcy, who expands her social world by befriending a couple that she and her best friend, Brisana, had dismissed as too ghetto, and grows closer to her crush, a singer and guitar player named Hakeem. Darcy's father, who left her family when she was just 10 years old, has suddenly returned and, although Darcy's younger sister is eager to reunite with him, Darcy and her mother wary of his intentions.
These first installments of the larger series are easy and natural to read. In spite of the fact that the series is sold with a Teacher's Guide, I don't feel hit over the head with morality. It's clear that Darcy and Hakeem are going to be the Elizabeth Wakefield and Todd Wilkins of the series and, to be honest, the four would probably have a lot in common. Unlike "Sweet Valley High," however, in which the default and assumed race of all the characters is white, in the "Bluford Series," the default and assumed race is Black. To me, it's very exciting to read a popular series about Black characters where that kind of "hidden curriculum" assumption is challenged in a subtle way. That is, the characters aren't described in elusive terms meant to indicate their Blackness; the series just assumes we are approaching the characters as the Black folks they are. Just like "Sweet Valley High" didn't go out of its way to describe Liz and Jess's whiteness in every book, this series doesn't go out of its way to inscribe Blackness on its characters for the benefit of a dominant audience. And, in the mostly white world of juvenile and teen series fiction, this is saying a LOT.
The publisher's website (Townsend Press, though the CIP data indicates Scholastic has taken over the series) touts the series' "accessible writing style" and its 5/6 grade reading level, as well as each novel's "relatively short length" and emphasizes what the publisher believes is the series' broad appeal. I'm always a little wary of a popularly constructed series that needs to tell its readers and buyers that the content is broadly appealing. After all, isn't that how popular fiction is supposed to work normally?