Tony Johnston, illustrated by Raúl Colón,
Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio.
Blue Sky/Scholastic, 2002

This new novel by veteran writer Tony Johnston, known for her picture books and poetry, is a delight. Her spirited narrator, a boy named Arturo Rodriguez, tells stories of his Mexican American family, his Los Angeles neighborhood, and his struggling school in language peppered with Spanish words – some defined in context, and some in the glossary at the back of the book. Arturo’s language is also enriched by the fact that he is an attentive, enthusiastic listener and observer. He recalls the thoughtful lessons of his gentle father; tries out vocabulary from his friend Raul, "the mad linguist"; quotes the earthy wisdom of his grandmother; listens to the radio; and reads the Los Angeles Times and the graffiti he encounters in the concrete riverbed near his house. Add to this a clever wit and a knack for putting the world together with in-the-moment city metaphors, and you’ve got an irresistible, elaborate, and believable voice.

Arturo is a pleasure to listen to, whether he’s telling us about his morning ("My hair wakes up stupid"), watching a basketball player get out of the car ("Coach Tree slowly unfolds himself out. Like a giant and rusted pocket-knife"), or describing a moment of fear during a standoff with gang members ("Fear spears my tripas. Then a weird wave of heat sprawls over me, and I’m sweating galones, soaking my shirt").

The novel’s structure is similarly rewarding. Each of the nine chapters is an episode about heroes – about the people who make life good in the challenging place and time in which Arturo lives. The first hero is his grandma, who by simply being her stubborn centered self persuades the boy and his friends to ask their teacher to start calling them by their Spanish names, instead of "Arthur" and "Ralph." "I wish I could be like her," Arturo says, "getting people’s names back for them – or something important like that. So far I’m just hanging out." While he "hangs out," he notices the good done by an eccentric neighbor who rescues a cat; the ex-NBA player who helps coach basketball at his school; the high school students in his brother’s band, Mega Mango, who let him play with them; and a music teacher, a school librarian, a police officer. When gang violence strikes his home, Arturo is done hanging out and figures out a way to do some good of his own.

Sweetness and grit mingle on every page of Any Small Goodness. Raúl Colón’s jacket illustration and spot art at the opening of each chapter are elegant and witty. Near the end of the book, Arturo’s father tells him, "In life there is bueno [good] and there is malo [bad]. If you do not find enough of the good, you must yourself create it." This artful, appealing novel is something very good.

Susan Marie Swanson
Spring 2002