50 pages • 1 hour read
Olugbemisola Rhuday-PerkovichOperation Sisterhood
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-23Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Mama Hope drops the girls off at the community pool where Lola is waiting. Bo pleads with Lola to be let out of swimming lessons, but Lola asserts they are non-negotiable: The family has beach trips planned in the summer, and Lola wants Bo to be safe.
After assessing her current skill level, the coach affirms that Bo is a beginner and puts her in the shallow end with three younger girls. Bo chats with one of them, eight-year-old Tiffany, and they decide to be lesson buddies. By the end of the session, Bo discovers swimming is not so bad after all. Just as she is beginning to feel upbeat, Lita arrives at the pool and laughs at Bo when she sees her with the beginners.
Chapter 18 Summary
Everyone is subdued on the way home after the encounter with Lita. Bo looks forward to some alone time with Lola back home, but Lola steps out almost immediately. The girls drift away to do their own things until Bo spies all the adults together in the wild, overrun, old community garden behind their backyard.
The girls head out to investigate, and the adults tell them that a company that had been buying property in the neighborhood originally tried to acquire the garden as well. A group of women formed a coalition, which Lola eventually joined, and fought back. The garden was finally released back into the community that day, and the Dwyer-Saunders adults volunteered to be caretakers to win some community goodwill.
Sunflower Rogers, whom Bo is meeting for the first time, joins the family in the garden. Bo immediately likes her. Sunflower originally owned the Dwyer-Saunders family’s house, and she now lives next door when she is not traveling. It was her idea to turn their adjacent backyards into a single big one for Rubia and the hens to use.
The group contemplates the different ways the community garden can be used, and Bo suggests that it could be the venue for the wedding block party. The others agree that it would be a good way to inaugurate the garden and get the community together. Sunflower suggests that since the girls are all musical, they should form a band and play at the party.
Chapter 19 Summary
The girls go on their first field trip into the city without the adults. After copious instructions from the adults on safety, the girls take the train into Queens and visit the Louis Armstrong House Museum. As they exit the building after finishing the tour, they run into a little girl named Mindasia who got separated from her parents. The girls calm Mindasia down by singing to her, and when the parents find her with them, they are grateful and appreciative.
The girls go on to their cooking class with one of Lola’s friends, following which they head to get dessert and discuss the block party. The party must be a success, as their family is still not well-liked or accepted by the rest of the neighborhood. The girls brainstorm ideas for activities and entertainment. Inspired by her time at the Louis Armstrong Museum and what Sunflower told them, Bo suggests they form an actual band.
Chapter 20 Summary
The girls all pile into the twins’ room at night to discuss the band plan. Lil is excited to make the costumes, and everyone agrees Lee should be the lead singer. Sunday has another idea: After what happened with Mindasia, and having observed Bo’s skill and experience with children, Sunday suggests they form a babysitting band. The girls would play music for the kids they babysit and teach them some basics as well.
The girls tell the adults about the band the next day, and they love it. The girls set up a room to practice together. Lee is nervous about singing, and Bo suggests they do their first performance for the animals at the shelter, which cheers Lee up immediately.
Chapter 21 Summary
The first rehearsal does not go well, with the girls disagreeing about almost everything, from the band name to the melody and improvisations on their songs. Bo steps away on the pretext of making a snack to get some time to herself. Sunday moves to help Bo and is a little hurt when Bo rushes to prepare the snacks by herself instead.
Ms. Tyler comes to the house to complain about the noise, and the girls take the opportunity to tell her about the block party. Bo gives Ms. Tyler some of Lola’s fresh baked buns with real Jamaican cheese, and Ms. Tyler is grudgingly impressed by both.
The parents agree to the babysitting band plan on the condition that the girls take a babysitting course that they pay for out of their allowances, and that they babysit at the bookstore so Bill can provide some adult supervision. The girls receive their first two gigs: Amy Johnson and Kareem’s younger siblings.
The girls sing together as they de-weed and clean the community garden, attracting Marcus and Kareem’s attention. After some teasing, the boys join in to help. The girls invite them to the party, revealing they will be playing as a band.
Chapter 22 Summary
On Thursday, Bo is scheduled to shadow Lil for the day. Sunday points out that Bo could have spent the day teaching her how to bake instead. Bo tries to brush this off; she still wants to preserve baking as something only for herself.
Bo goes with Lil to Marcus Garvey Park, where they decide to swing for a while before Lil practices her skateboarding. A white woman approaches them and tells them off for being on the swings even though there is a third, unoccupied one for her son, and Bo and Lil are children themselves. The girls hold their ground, but the mood darkens after. Marcus and Kareem run into the girls at the park; they told Reese about the party, and her father knows people who can help with it. The boys help Bo and Lil distribute flyers about the party, after which they head to the swings and slides before playing tag together. They finally head home “sweaty and triumphant, having taken up space” (224).
Chapter 23 Summary
The girls have one last rehearsal in the bookstore before their gig at the animal shelter. As they take a break, Bill calls Bo over to help with the snacks and thanks her for the band livening the place up with their music.
The girls ask Bo about her plan to make cupcakes for the block party, suggesting she might need help, but Bo declines. Lee consults their group planner and discovers that they have double-booked themselves and are babysitting both Amy and the Bullock siblings on the same Monday.
Chapters 17-23 Analysis
The action in these chapters is largely to do with preparing for the block party, which has now taken on a greater significance for the family. While the adults were initially apprehensive about the kids handling such a project, they warm up to the idea when it is tied to the community garden. This is because integrating themselves into their neighborhood is important to the adults, too, who recognize The Role of Community in Fostering Belonging and Support. The adults take charge of the abandoned community garden in hopes of winning some goodwill in the community. They recognize that their family has not yet been accepted by their neighborhood, and believe it is important to build a community outside of their home. Mirroring their parents’ actions, the girls, too, offer their services to the neighborhood community by setting up their babysitting band.
In the process of working on the block party and related pursuits, Bo (and the reader) become better acquainted with some more neighborhood characters. Bo finally meets Sunflower Rogers, the family’s neighbor who sold them their house. She is the one to suggest that the girls form a band and play at the party. Sunflower is a positive force in the family’s life and one of the few people who welcomed them with open arms from the outset. She contrasts with Ms. Tyler, who continues to be as grumpy and skeptical as ever. However, the girls appear to be winning her over, too; she is begrudgingly appreciative when the girls give her some of Lola’s fresh baked buns with Jamaican cheese. As the girls invest more in relationships within the neighborhood, they also experience returns in the way of support and a sense of belonging. They find that their relationship with Marcus and Kareem slowly deepens, as, despite the teasing, the boys help them spread the word about the block party. Bo and Lil experience a particular moment of solidarity with the boys: After an unpleasant encounter with a white woman at the park, the girls turn the mood around by playing and taking up space at the park with Marcus and Kareem. Just as Bo settles into her new family, the family, too, is slowly strengthening their neighborhood community through acts of service and social bonding.
Bo continues to experience the advantages and challenges of The Dynamics of Blended Families and Sisterhood. She is pushed into trying things she does not want to, like swimming lessons, because of the family’s planned summer beach trips. She also longs for time alone with Lola to process some of these changes, but Lola herself is caught up with other concerns. On one hand, Bo discovers that some of the new things she experiences turn out much better than expected; she even enjoys her swimming lesson. Similarly, she is inspired to champion Sunflower’s idea of a band with her sisters, which helps to solidify both her sense of belonging in her family and her sense of belonging in the neighborhood. However, the positives do not erase the challenges Bo faces, especially the need for space and time on her own. This is reflected in the disastrous first practice the girls have during which no one can agree on anything. This is symbolic of how harmony takes time, effort, practice, and patience. Bo, too, needs all of these with her new family, as she is still settling in.
Baking continues to be a recurring motif connected to Bo’s independence and need for solitude. Bo still wants to preserve the hobby for herself, declining her sisters’ offer of help with the cupcakes for the party. Food in general, however, is a means to bring people together in a sense of community in the novel. For instance, though Bo wants to keep the act of baking to herself, the girls begin to win Ms. Tyler over by offering her Lola’s baked goodies. Like food, music as a recurring motif continues to indicate unity and healing. The girls’ experience with Mindasia, among others, inspires them to form their babysitting band. Playing music brings the sisters together, but it also brings the neighborhood together, as well.
