Know When to Hold. When to Fold.

Playing the Cards You're Dealt
​by Varian Johnson read by Dion Graham

Johnson and Graham deliver in Spades

Anthony Joplin has been dealt a tough hand. He’s short. Hence the nickname Ant. He wants to play in the community Spades tournament, but his partner dropped out. Ant’s only option is a girl. She's a shrewd card player. But she's a girl!
However, he has a more pressing problem: his father is addicted to gambling and alcohol. Ant finds dad staying up all night, playing online poker and taking swigs of some mystery liquid in a red plastic cup. His first reaction is to ignore and rationalize his father’s behavior, then to make excuses and try to protect his dad.

He is torn. When is silence the wrong response? Is keeping his father's addictions secret the act of a loyal son? Would talking to his mother about his father be a betrayal?

Listen to an audio clip.

Ant's older brother discloses a crucial moment in Ant's childhood that demonstrates the extent of his father's illness. His mother and brother remain a constant support. While they love Ant's father, they cannot condone his behavior.

​The heart of the story is a boy’s emerging realization that addiction is tearing a huge hole in the fabric of his family. Ant must come to terms with his father’s addictions. Can you love someone when trust is broken?

Johnson delivers another middle grade story brimming with a cast of characters so real they seem jump off the pages. His characteristic wry sense of humor shines as Ant faces playground taunts, overly-attentive parents, a first crush, and sibling rivalry. This ten-year-old learns that his upstanding mother who cannot cook, his high-achieving brother, and surprisingly, the girl who trounced him at Spades have his back. Always.

The audiobook edition of Playing With the Cards You’re Dealt received the 2022 Audie Award for Middle Grade. Graham delivers a masterful performance. Each character has a unique voice, revealing a distinct personality from the mother dealing with a critical blow to the stability of her family, a kind older brother, a father struggling with addiction, to venerable ten-year-old Ant.

Graham’s narrative skills are consistent throughout the narrative. Pacing is superb. Of special note is the voice of Roland, Ant’s father. While the father’s voice remains in character, there is a noticeable change in the delivery as he slides deeper into the world of alcoholism. When Roland is intoxicated, enmeshed in gambling, or caught in a lie, Graham infuses the voice with an attempt at smooth talking that devolves into hostility and belligerence.
Playing With the Cards You're Dealt covers a lot of territory: Johnson neatly weaves contemporary middle school life with heart wrenching effects of addiction. It’s winning combination.

Electronic copy accessed via Audible.

Pub date: October 5, 2021  Publisher: Scholastic Inc. ISBN: 978-1338780949