Alicia kim's blog

Introduction:

Gideon Green in Black and White is a mystery and coming-of-age novel by Katie Henry, published in 2022. The book follows Gideon Green, a high school student who dreams of becoming a detective and loves noir films. He joins a newspaper club after the introduction of Lily, his former friend from middle school. He works together with Lily and Tess to find out the truth behind a murder that they are handling. 

Plot:

Gideon Green is a sixteen-year-old boy who loves his film noir collection and lives shortly as a teenage detective. However, his dream of becoming a detective, a hero for his community, is shattered when he retires. During his experience as a teenage detective, he had a hard time with the police as they thought of him as just a joke. He gets isolated from students in school for his outfit, trench coat, and obsession with noir film collection. When he interacts with his former friend, Lily, who was his best friend in middle school but suddenly turned her back on him, she asks him to join the newspaper club. She asked him to help her with her next newspaper article, handling a murder case in their community. He meets Tess, the editor-chief of the newspaper club, and has a good interaction with her. However, the causes and the murderer are unknown in this case, creating a barrier for Lily. Gideon decides to help her and goes to the police department to figure out the case’s specifics. He faces another challenge as Officer O’Hara refuses to share information with a kid, leaving him with no continual progression. Gideon and Lily decide to solve this case on their own. He goes over to the site to see the body and details of the surroundings. He finds a watch, dog hair, and more and tries to connect those. When he couldn’t find the answer, he decided to sneak into one of the acquaintances of the victim. He doesn’t tell his dad anything except that he is helping Lily with a school paper. When she left the house, Lily and Gideon sneaked to find a messy room with a dog. They looked at her room for anything suspicious until Lily found a wardrobe inside a closet room. Gideon immediately thought it was peculiar. He touched the inside of the wardrobe and found a watch and blood in a bag. When they were about to leave, they encountered Officer O’Hara and the owner of the house, talking about the victim. They hid to hide themselves with the dog and decided to escape using the dog as bait. When they escaped, he dialed Tess to meet them in school so that they could write the paper as soon as they could. They completed the paper, causing the community to disrupt the police department and the murder case that took a toll on the neighborhood. 

Analysis:

The author shows the unique character Gideon has, showing his obsession with black and white films and detective outwear. However, the author shows the contrast between what the character thinks and what the world thinks about him. Even though Gideon continually liked his taste, the author wrote the isolation Gideon went through because of his peculiar taste. The author also shows a lesson to be confident in what you like and what you’re good at because your talent will prove itself one time in your life. Also, the author shows the relationship between Gideon and his father. His father is introduced as hard-working and diligent, providing money for his family. He is also protective of Gideon because they lost their mom. This is shown through his shifts in his restaurant and Gideon not telling him that he is solving a murder case. He also shows his cleverness through his plans of breaking in and finding clues but he doesn’t think about the consequences of permitting the law. The author also twists romantic details into the novel. She makes Tess and Gideon fall for each other and it shows hope for Gideon because he is isolated but with Tess, he can be his whole self without having to hide his true identity. He also has a great bond with Lily despite their parting in middle school. 

Conclusion:

Gideon Green in Black and White is a mystery novel by Katie Henry, published in 2022. The book follows Gideon Green who is obsessed with noir films and detective. He gets isolated from his peers due to his interests. One day, his former friend, Lily asks him to help her write a school paper on a recent murder case. He helps her by trying to find the clues and breaking into one of the acquaintances of the victim’s house. He witnessed Officer O’Hara talking to the acquaintance about the murder and he knew immediately that she was the murderer and Officer O’Hara had been covering it. He went to the school with Lily and Tess to publish the article as soon as possible. Gideon proved that he was a great detective and a hero to the community. The author portrays a unique character in Gideon with a peculiar taste and shares a lesson to be yourself despite others not supporting your character.