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If the foundation is a lie, is anything real? This episode we look at identity, trust, and family as we dive into Angela Johnson's award winning book, Heaven. Marley's world is turned upside down when she learns that nothing is what it seems and her (spoiler alert) uncle is really her dad and the people who raised her are really her aunt and uncle.  All in all, it's a real doozy of a revelation for anyone, much less a child. In this episode we try to figure out what the heck is going on with Shuggy Maple and bemoan some pretty poor editing when it comes to Shuggy's mom's name. We are perplexed by Uncle Jack and wonder whether he has taken hobocore a little too far. We ponder why on earth a 14 year old girl is allowed to go daytripping with a 20 year old man and try to figure out a seemingly dodgy child support situation. We also really wish people still wrote love letters —the pen and paper kind, not the slide into my DMs kind.

These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [email protected]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit our blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.

We mentioned a lot of topics in this episode. Here’s a brief list of some informative articles and videos about some of them if you want to do your own further research:

Kinship adoptions: https://adoptioncouncil.org/publications/the-hidden-hurdles-and-benefits-of-kinship-care-and-adoption/

Angela Johnson interview: https://www.ohiochannel.org/video/an-interview-with-ohio-author-angela-johnson