Introduction by Heavy Medal Award Committee Member Janeé Jackson-Doering
Everyone at the middle school knows Quagmire. He’s the snarky, soon to be high school freshman who’s a whiz with the sound board after taking over the middle school’s sound booth during their Jazz Lab protest concert. He’s looking forward to summer and not facing questions from Principal Deming. He’d like to get to know his classmate (and crush) Cassie Byzinski better – so much so that he lied by telling her that he’s a “birder” (pg. 9) and agreeing to go to Art Camp with her.
What Cassie doesn’t know is that Quagmire’s mom, Moira, suffers from a mental illness. Moira is unstable. Her “spells” leave Quagmire to fend for himself for days. It also leads him to grow up faster than his peers. During this recent “spell,” Moira vandalizes the library and removes her neighbor’s flowers.
“What are you supposed to do when your mom chops down all the flowers within five blocks, dumps them on your kitchen floor, and then disappears? Did not go over that one in health class last year. Probably “talk to a trusted adult.” (pg.54).
Soon, Quagmire realizes that he needs a trusted adult after Moira drives him from upstate New York and abandons him along the highway. Quagmire finds in Moira’s purse a lifeline: the contact information to Moira’s brother Jay – the uncle Quagmire has never met.
In QUAGMIRE TIARELLO COULDN’T BE BETTER by Mylisa Larsen, Quagmire thought he knew who he was:
“He is someone who gets up every Saturday and logs into his mom’s bank account and pays the bills, so they’ll get paid…He is someone who for fourteen years has kept his mom safe and then couldn’t keep her safe anymore.” (pg. 185).
Larsen’s delineation of characters and plot make this book a worthy candidate for Mock Newbery. Quagmire is a teen who’s just trying to do the right thing and keep the status quo. He’s fiercely independent, smart and snarky – and teens can relate to him. From helping Uncle Jay take care of animals on the farm in Nebraska, to learning how to drive a truck – Quagmire learns to recalibrate his formidable survival skills to build a new life – as a teen. I could feel Quagmire’s anger and tears when he punches his arm in the barn after learning his mother won’t get better (pg. 192).
Interspersed with Quagmire’s quirky research about birds and audio files from his phone for the Art Camp’s radio play; this book tackles themes of growing up, anger, first love, mental illness and anxiety through wry humor.
For those reasons, QUAGMIRE TIARELLO COULDN’T BE BETTER deserves to be on the Mock Newbery list.
And Fun Fact: Quagmire first appeared in Mylisa Larsen’s previous book, Playing Through the Turnaround.
Heavy Medal Award Committee members and others are now invited to discuss this book further in the Comments section below. Let the Mock Newbery discussion begin!