{"id":453,"date":"2023-05-15T18:02:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T18:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=453"},"modified":"2025-02-04T18:06:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T18:06:41","slug":"my-girl-gigi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2023\/05\/15\/my-girl-gigi\/","title":{"rendered":"My Girl Gigi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MY GIRL GIGI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Thomas Davison<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not every child grows up in a \u201ctraditional\u201d nuclear family like I, a Baby Boomer, read about in the&nbsp;<em>Further Adventures of Dick and Jane<\/em>&nbsp;children\u2019s books of the 1950s. In the 21<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;century, we have blended families, extended families, modern families, single mothers, single fathers, etc. That being said, I present to you Thomas Davison\u2019s children\u2019s book&nbsp;<em>My Girl Gigi.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">12-year-old Gigi had experienced a nomadic life since the death of her parents; her father during active duty in the military and her mother from postnatal complications following the birth of her little brother \u201cPicklehead.\u201d Passed around from one relative to another, she and Picklehead finally have a forever home with Granny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gigi excels at Double-Dutch jump roping. It is her passion, and her team is a semi-finalist for the upcoming state championship. As it happens, Granny has some plans of her own\u2014to take Gigi and Picklehead to Disney World, something she has saved for and planned for a long time. The downside? The trip takes place at the same time of the Double-Dutch competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is Gigi to do? How will this work out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Davison\u2019s story is heartwarming, with the powerful theme of \u201cFamily First.\u201d I remember growing up as a child here in south Minneapolis, seeing the girls on my elementary school playground playing Double-Dutch jump roping. Davison doesn\u2019t diminish the losses Gigi has had in her life, but her present and future are not defined by them. Her ultimate decisions show where her true priorities are, and they are made out of love. The ending was a pleasant revelation, underscoring the power of faith that everything would work out as it was meant to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As African Americans, there can never be enough children\u2019s books by us and for us to encourage our children not only to read, but to enjoy it. Davison\u2019s story gives us yet another lesson to last a lifetime, and Neil McKnight\u2019s illustrations make it vivid and fun. As one who is taking care of my 93-year-old mother, \u201cFamily First\u201d resonates powerfully with me, and I thank him for that.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>My Girl Gigi<\/em>&nbsp;is available through Ultimate Joy Publications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you, Thomas, for a story that will touch hearts everywhere. May your gifts continue to make room for you. At the end of the day, it\u2019s all about the love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MY GIRL GIGI By Thomas Davison Not every child grows up in a \u201ctraditional\u201d nuclear family like I, a Baby Boomer, read about in the&nbsp;Further Adventures of Dick and Jane&nbsp;children\u2019s books of the 1950s. In the 21st&nbsp;century, we have blended families, extended families, modern families, single mothers, single fathers, etc. That being said, I present [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[151,224,225,226,228,227],"class_list":["post-453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-baby-boomer","tag-blended-families","tag-extended-families","tag-modern-families","tag-single-father","tag-single-mother","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/My-Girl-Gigi-1-e1738692364638.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions\/455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}