Ali Cross, Book2, Like Father Like Son, James Patterson. Author; Zeno Robinson, James Carr, Narrators.
Ali Cross likes to break the rules, especially when he thinks he is in his role as boy detective. Ali’s dad is Alex Cross, an African American hero cop, in Washington DC, and Ali wants to be just like him. Ali makes excuses for himself when he lies, but he still willfully disobeys his dad and his nanamama, his great grandmother, who takes care of him while his parents work. He often makes them worry more about his whereabouts than they should. Sometimes, he tells them he is one place, but is really in another.
When Ali’s friend Zoe’s mom, “DC”, a famous singer, is scheduled to perform locally at a music festival, he and his friends, Mateo, Ruby and Zoe, Gabe and Cedric, all intend to try to attend the concert. Ali lies to his nanamama, once again. She thinks he is working on a school project, but he has really sneaked off to the concert venue. While there, he hears a loud bang, and Ali knows a gun has been fired. He watches a lot of detective television shows. Zoe had walked away to find her mom. He thinks, where is she now? He worried so, because Ali really likes Zoe. Was she safe?
When Ali finds her, he sees she is wounded and possibly in shock. Ali thinks about what he has learned from some of the shows he has watched, and he uses his sweatshirt to bind her wounds to stem the bleeding. He is, once again, a hero, because he saved her life, but he is also in lots of trouble because now he has to tell his dad he lied to his nanamama again. Then, even worse, he has to tell his nanamama.
Using a theme that is similar to one used in book 1, of this series, the reader then learns that another friend of Ali’s has disappeared. After being released from the hospital, suddenly Zoe is gone. The friends reunite to investigate her disappearance and begin to search for clues.
They know that Zoe’s parents are divorced. Ali is also the only one who knows that her dad is homeless. Although he works, he can’t seem to earn enough money to provide a home for himself. Although sworn to secrecy, this time Ali does tell his friends and his father most of what he knows. He learned his lesson when his friend Gabe disappeared when they were in fourth grade. Keeping secrets was dangerous and upset friends and family. In the search for Zoe, Ali is once again placed in danger. A complicated and diabolical scheme is uncovered to blame Zoe’s mom’s ex-boyfriend for a crime he did not commit, but was staged to look that way. Her ex-boyfriend was not a very nice man.
The children believe that since the adults are doing nothing, they must help to stop the shootings. They stage a walk out to stop the shootings and control gun sales, but the author does not use that moment to address the code of silence which allows the perpetuation of a criminal culture, nor does he address where the guns come from. Finally, Zoe and others do not like cops. In general, the feeling is that cops do nothing but shoot black kids. Statistics are quoted that are inaccurate about the ratio of the number of blacks that are shot. This is not an idea that should be promoted in a middle grade book without an explanation of why they are sometimes shot more often. No mention is made of the fact that they often resist arrest. The number of kids shot is also related to the number of crimes committed more than to the color of the victim. Prejudice is promoted, in this book, when it is stated that white kids get everything as a simple fact. No reasons are given for why they might get more. In some cases, in those families, there are more two parent families. More are better educated. They do not quit school as often. They have better jobs because of that.
Also, teachers are portrayed as perfect and compassionate, but cops not so much, they are more imperfect. So, while the story flows smoothly and holds the interest of the young, is it teaching the right lesson to them? The series so far feels like a primer for the propaganda for the Democrat’s platform. Currently, they are not encouraging better behavior, but are dismissing criminal behavior by blaming others for it instead of the criminal. This is a middle grade novel, and when the author encourages poor examples of conduct and uses unfair comparisons, I believe he may only encourage more jealousy and rage, rather than better examples to follow in order to succeed. I am a bit concerned with the overall message of this middle grade series. ( )