55 pages • 1 hour read
Ibi ZoboiMy Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019A 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 33-39Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 33 Summary
Two weeks go by, and the Nine Flavas avoid Ebony-Grace, and she tries to purchase an airline ticket to see Granddaddy. She realizes she can take a cab to the airport and buy a ticket there. She then calls Granddaddy, but Momma answers. She says Granddaddy isn’t doing well, so she’ll have to wait to see him at the end of the summer. Ebony-Grace remains determined to visit her Granddaddy.
The Nine Flavas sell Kool-Aid to raise money for their crew, and Ebony-Grace has a quarter in her pocket, so she buys two cups. Diane comes over and asks them how much money they’ve made. Bianca holds out the quarter. They need $100 to get to the Apollo—$50 to sign up for the contest, and $50 for outfits. The girls ask Diane’s new boyfriend to help them, but he doesn’t have that kind of dough.
Reflecting on the lessons of Apollo 13, Ebony-Grace creates a new plan. She speaks to Bianca: If she gets the Nine Flavas into the Apollo, will she let Pablo join them? Also, can she teach her some of her moves?
Chapter 34 Summary
Using Ebony-Grace’s money (the money she got from the envelope), the Nine Flavas crew pays Dapper Dan to stitch a Gucci logo on sweatpants. Monique assures Ebony-Grace that all the “fly” rappers go to Dapper Dan for clothes. She suggests Ebony-Grace be their manager. Ebony-Grace wants them to call her a Captain, and the girls agree to call her Captain Starfleet.
Ebony-Grace buys them food for the third time when Uncle Rich appears in a fancy car with another lady friend. The girls call Ebony-Grace’s uncle a “pimp,” and Daddy thinks Uncle Rich stole his money. They scream about the woman, the car, and Uncle Rich’s new suit. As they start to fight, the cops arrive and arrest Daddy. While they lead him away, Ebony-Grace confesses to taking the money.
Chapter 35 Summary
The community can’t stop talking about the fight and the police officer who took the money from Ebony-Grace’s hand as evidence. Daddy won’t ever see that money again, and the people didn’t think a “skinny” girl from the South could stir up so much commotion.
Momma calls and tells her daughter she can come home now, but Ebony-Grace doesn’t think she should. She has to care for Daddy. He broke his jaw, and he has a busted lip and a black eye. She tells her Momma it’s her fault, but Daddy says it’s his fault: He didn’t do the “right thing” with the money. Momma agrees: It’s not her fault.
Chapter 36 Summary
The Nine Flavas had no money, so they had no outfits and couldn’t compete in the contest, which the Cold-Crush Calvin Crew won after Pablo “begged” Calvin to let him come back. Yet Ebony-Grace doesn’t care about the dance drama: She will see Granddaddy. Talking to herself, she proudly declares her victory over the Sonic King. She’s the captain of the Uhura (if it still exists).
Pablo passes by and calls her Captain Starfleet. Ebony-Grace says he can’t call her that. She calls him a traitor. Pablo says someone had to get into the contest. With the prize money, he’ll help the Nine Flavas compete in other contests. Pablo brings up Captain Fleet. Is he dead? Ebony-Grace says he’s not a real person but a product of Granddaddy’s imagination.
Pablo wonders if she’ll still go to outer space camp. He wishes he could go to outer space camp, but everyone is breaking and rapping. Pablo wishes he could go back to Alabama with Ebony-Grace, but Ebony-Grace points out all the cool sights and sounds of New York. Pablo dances, and Ebony-Grace bops her head. He puts her arm around her, and she tells him he’s already an astronaut—a space hero.
Chapter 37 Summary
Ebony-Grace will go back to Alabama in the evening. Her Daddy comes home from work and is about to take her to the airport when the phone rings. Ebony-Grace turns down the volume to a rerun of the sitcom What’s Happening!! (1976-1979) and hears Daddy talk to Momma, and then she talks to Momma: Granddaddy died this morning.
Chapter 38 Summary
As Daddy’s jaw is sore from consoling Momma, Ebony-Grace speaks to the person from American Airlines about changing the date for her ticket. Momma has to deal with the media, friendly neighborhoods, and other loose ends. Ebony-Grace doesn’t argue with her mom or dad, and her adventures don’t come from her imagination or Granddaddy’s stories. Now, adventure means waking up, eating, and sleeping—the things that happen every day.
On the day Ebony-Grace gets ready to fly home, people outside Daddy’s shop express their condolences to her about Granddaddy. The Nine Flavas also say they’re sorry about Granddaddy. Bianca and Ebony-Grace make up, and the girl calls them “Ebony and Ivory.” Daddy tells the girls not to play in the junkyard, but Ebony-Grace stands up to him: If boys can play in the junkyard, they can.
Ebony-Grace and Daddy watch the horrible news, and Ebony-Grace thinks about how Daddy protects her. The newscast features a message from President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989). He wants NASA to find a teacher to send to outer space. Ebony-Grace wonders what role a teacher would play on a space crew.
Chapter 39 Summary
Daddy flies back with Ebony-Grace to Alabama, and the outer space narrative returns, with Ebony-Grace pretending she’s on the Uhura. Though she didn’t rescue Captain Fleet or defeat the Sonic King, she didn’t fail the mission. Maybe the missions didn’t entail saving Captain Fleet but becoming Captain Starfleet. Ebony-Grace has changed, and Captain Fleet lives peacefully in her imagination. Perhaps the Genesis Device alters how a captain views a planet. She can think a planet is “dirty” and “broken,” but obey the Prime Directive and not mess with things.
The change that has to occur is in the captain’s head. The teacher in space must learn that—they can’t impose their views on aliens. The aliens have their own customs. Ebony-Grace has to be the first student in space and tell the crew about the Genesis Device and the Prime Directive.
Chapters 33-39 Analysis
Though the Nine Flavas want nothing to do with Ebony-Grace, she demonstrates Growth and Acceptance by contributing to their Kool-Aid fundraiser and then using the money that Granddaddy sent (the money that fell out of Daddy’s pocket) on them. Like her father, Ebony-Grace turns into something of a community leader. She supports the Nine Flavas Crew, and she helps Pablo, whom they have to let Pablo into their group.
With the cash, Ebony-Grace concedes a link to their culture and finds a way to belong. Monique makes her the Nine Flavas manager, and Ebony-Grace asks Bianca, “[C]an you teach me some of your moves?” (265). Following the Prime Directive, Ebony-Grace leaves the outer space narrative to learn how to break.
The relationship between the Nine Flavas and Ebony-Grace is far from rosy. Dapper Dan is not a fashion designer: He sews the logos of expensive fashion brands—like Gucci—onto cheap clothes. The dynamic is less communal and more exploitative, with Ebony-Grace noting, “This will be the third time I’ve bought everybody food” (268). After Daddy and Uncle Rich fight and the cop takes the money for “evidence,” the money disappears, and so do the girls.
Nevertheless, Ebony-Grace chose to spend the money on the girls and not an airplane ticket for herself. She followed the Prime Directive and put into practice the lesson of Apollo 13—she “made a new plan” (265). When Granddaddy dies, the girls display community and togetherness by expressing their condolences to Ebony-Grace and playing together in the junkyard.
The junkyard scene gives the girls another chance to demonstrate their empowered gender. Daddy doesn’t want them to play in the junkyard, but they remind Daddy that he lets the boys play. Unlike in the contest, Daddy relents.
Pablo Jupiter complicates the symbolism behind the Genesis Device when he states, “Everything here is still alive. People who don’t know always say these neighborhoods are dead, but we’re still here, still living. You know what I mean” (250). Harlem doesn’t need rebirth or change. The people in Harlem are alert and active. Pablo adds, “The Genesis Device can go downtown where all the rich folks are and their fancy buildings!” (254). Ironically, the people in the affluent parts of New York City could use the Genesis Device. They’re the ones who are stuck and require an injection of spirit.
After Granddaddy dies, Ebony-Grace becomes melancholy. The tone mixes sadness and loss, as Ebony-Grace abandons the outer-space narrative, stating, “Adventure now is every day, everything; it’s waking up, eating, talking about nothing, watching nothing, and going back to sleep” (286). Ebony-Grace feels empty.
On the airplane back to Huntsville, the outer space drama returns, but there’s a truce in the battle between Imagination and Reality. Citing the Genesis Device, Ebony-Grace has an epiphany:
Maybe the Genesis Device can change how a captain sees a new planet, not the other way around. Maybe the captain thinks the planet is all broken and dirty, but she’ll have to follow the Prime Directive: Don’t go trying to change things up (291).
Ebony-Grace grows and accepts that she can’t (or shouldn’t) impose her imagination on reality. She has to let reality run its course and embrace its imperfections. Reality doesn’t supplant her imagination. She retains her outer space narrative and promotes herself to Captain Starfleet. Yer her imagination doesn’t have to wipe out reality—it’s not one or the other: She can deal with both. Her Self-Exploration and Identity Creation helped her find a way to find a balance between Imagination and Reality and put her on the path toward Growth and Acceptance of her life, its circumstances, and the people in it.
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By Ibi Zoboi
