Customer Reviews

What Mary Jo Shared

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This was one of my favorite books as a child and I am happy to see it is still in print. It is about a little girl who brings her father to school for show and tell. A lovely story that reminds us how important and special fathers are.

Written in 1969, this book contains a plot device rarely used in children's books at that time, a black girl with family. Mary Jo is a shy black girl that wants to bring something for the sharing portion of her daily class. However, every time she thinks she has something worthy of sharing someone else brings something better. For example, when she captures a grasshopper in a glass jar Jimmy brought a jar with six grasshoppers in it. Finally, she has a wonderful idea; she brings her father, a teacher of high school. It is a big hit among the children as they all excitedly talk about their fathers and Mary Jo is a success.

It is a sad, unfortunate fact that few of the stories written for children before the 1970's ever depicted black children in typical family settings. This book is a wonderful exception, Mary Jo is just a child with skin that happens to be darker than most of the others in her class.

I can remember when I was young how the boys in our neighborhood were constantly telling wild stories about the exploits of our fathers. They got pretty absurd at times, when you couldn't think of a good story you resorted to "My dad can beat up your dad." Therefore, this story had a great deal of resonance with me and I am sure the same would apply to the boys I grew up with.