Nikki Grimes’ memoir “Ordinary Hazards”, a 2021-22 Gateway Award Nominee, tells a heartbreaking story of growing up and never being quite sure of where “home” is. Nikki and her sister Carol, Harlem natives, grew up with an alcoholic and mentally ill mother. With their father not in the picture and mother never being at home, Nikki and Carol ended up being taken care of by a long list of babysitters. Once her mother stops coming home from work regularly, Nikki and Carol are picked up by Social Services and whisked away. Spending the next few years in the foster program, Nikki is separated from Carol for the first time. Nikki ends up in a small town in upstate New York with a brand new family. A new town with new kids to meet, a new school and most disruptive: a brand new family. 

Nikki retreats into herself, feeling isolated: “The house was full, but with strangers,/and I was there by myself in the dark.” After the isolation was too much to bear, Nikki grabs some pen and paper, letting her thoughts and emotions flood out onto the page: “suddenly, I could breathe, breathe, breathe and/there was once again room enough in my head/and my heart to just—be” (p. 59).

Grimes makes a departure from conventional novel structure, instead using free verse, a form of poetry allowing for more freedom in sentence structure and length. As a result, the story flows, and the reader is able to follow Nikki’s thoughts as if they were right along with her. The emotion comes through as clear as crystal, most prominently when Nikki loses contact with Carol and finds herself drifting alone through life.

“Ordinary Hazards” is sure to be a favorite for fans of realistic fiction, as well as those interested in reading a novel more poetic in nature.