Webster Bible Church and Webster Christian School Library Blog

Follett Titlewave

It’s 1958 in Little Rock, Arkansas. Twelve-year-old Marlee has found a  best friend at school–the new girl, Elizabeth. Then suddenly Liz changes schools, and the truth comes out– Liz was a light-skinned Negro pretending to be white.

The governor has ordered the high school closed rather than allow integration following the brave attempt by the Little Rock Nine the previous year. Marlee’s parents are at odds about school integration, and it’s dangerous for Marlee to continue her friendship with Liz. What can she do?

This book exposes the social upheaval that surrounded  school integration in Little Rock, Arkansas, and shows that it is important to speak up about what you believe.

We have selected this title to be part of the Battle of the Books competition for next year at Webster Christian School.

Recommended for grades 5-8.

I believed that the only respectful way for me to deal with this subject was through the eyes of a child, and particularly through the eyes of a rather naive child who couldn’t possibly understand the terrible things that were taking place around him. After all, only the victims and survivors can truly comprehend the awfulness of that time and place; the rest of us live on the other side of the fence, staring through from our own comfortable place, trying in our own clumsy ways to make sense of it all.

Follett Titlewave

It’s 1962, and aspiring author, Skeeter Phelan, decides to write a book about the experiences of black maids working for white employers in Jackson, Mississippi.

As a well-to-do native of Jackson, Skeeter was lovingly raised by a black maid. Although she is sympathetic to the winds of social change, Skeeter finds it difficult to gain the trust of the maids who fear the potentially horrific backlash for their truth-telling.

Skeeter’s own social life is up-ended as she increasingly distances herself from people who treat blacks as inferior or who do not have the moral courage to care or help bring about change.

Told in the first person with alternating chapters for “Miss Skeeter” and two of the maids, Aibilene and Minny, the immediacy of the story draws the reader into the maids’ world as well as that of a white woman who witnesses things from both sides of the fence.

Although significant events such as the murder of Medgar Evers are interjected, the story mainly focuses on these hard-working women–the  injustices they faced as well as the loving bonds forged with some of their employers’ family members.

The author, Kathryn Stockett, was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, and was sweetly nurtured by a black maid named Demetrie. Kathryn says, in her own words at the end of the book,

I’m pretty sure I can say that no one in my family ever asked Demetrie what it felt like to be black in Mississippi, working for our white family. . . . I have wished, for many years, that I’d been old enough and thoughtful enough to ask Demetrie that question. She died when I was sixteen. I’ve spent years imagining what her answer would be, and that is why I wrote this book.

This #1 New York Times bestseller let me “walk in another man’s moccasins.” I’m grateful for that.

I object to the prurient incident of a naked house intruder. In addition, although the considerable amount of swearing is probably authentic, I wish that my Lord’s name had not been taken in vain.

Follett Titlewave

It’s 1962, and 5th-grader Franny Chapman lives in fear of an atomic attack by the Russians on her Washington, D.C.-area neighborhood.

Air-raid drills at school, her Air Force father on high alert, President Kennedy delivering somber speeches on TV, and her Uncle Otts building a bomb  shelter in their yard–all these things add to her worries.

Then there’s the preteen angst of fighting with her best friend and crushing on the cute boy down the road.

This substantial documentary novel (377 p.) began as a picture book in the author’s mind way back in 1996 but is now just book one in “The Sixties Trilogy.” Primary source materials (song lyrics, photographs, quotes, posters, etc.) are interspersed throughout the book.

Deborah Wiles sets this story in the very neighborhood where she grew up.  As someone born in 1959 who also grew up in this area, I thoroughly enjoyed the authentic stroll down memory lane with Deborah.

Obviously an incredible amount of research and planning went into the content and format of this book. Writing an historical fiction book about the Cold War era is a tricky thing. What I’m not sure about is how many readers in the targeted audience will make it all the way through this novel. I have a lot of emotional attachment and background knowledge surrounding the time and place,  so I don’t consider myself a competent judge in this matter. However, even I felt like the story dragged a bit in the middle.

Nonetheless, Deborah Wiles has admirably completed an amazing book which conveys both information and emotion about the Cold War era. I hope that it finds a spot in some social studies classes.

Recommended for grades 5-8.

Awards/Lists: Children’s Books of the Year 2011–Ages 12-14; Booklist Books for Middle Readers 2010;  Notable Children’s Books 2011; Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts 2011; Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2011;  Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Children’s Books 2010

Follett Titlewave

“I’m used to doing what’s hard.”

It’s no wonder.

Delphine’s mother just up and left one day when Delphine was only four, her younger sister Vonetta wanted someone to carry her, and baby Fern was still nursing.

Their grandmother, Big Ma, came up from Alabama to help, and the girls have lived with her and their father in Brooklyn ever since.

Big Ma fries pork chops, crushes the girls in bosomy hugs, and makes sure their hair is straightened every Sunday when they go to the Baptist Church. It’s Delphine’s job to keep Vonetta and Fern in line, but life is predictable and safe.

That is until their father decides the girls need to spend some time with their mother in Oakland, California.

Delphine, Vonetta and Fern “California dream” about movie stars, sunny beaches and Disneyland. What they get is a mother who  doesn’t want them there and four weeks at a Black Panther day camp.

Delphine had heard about the Black Panthers on the evening news, but she is surprised by what she finds at “The People’s Center”–Black Panthers serving breakfast and helping kids from other races, too.

What was the civil rights movement like for blacks living in Brooklyn or Oakland (where the Black Panther Party was founded) instead of the deep South?

Rita Williams-Garcia lets you live in the skin of Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern as they are suspected of shoplifting just because of the color of their skin. The girls are “colored counters” who know all the TV shows and commercials with colored people and count the number of lines they are given.

Through these young girls’ eyes, the reader learns a lot about the Black Panther Party–a  neglected element of the civil rights movement in America as far as children’s literature is concerned. (Note:  I just searched Follett’s Titlewave for resources about the Black Panther Party for grades 3-8 and got two results–this book and The Rock and the River, by Kekla Magoon, a John Steptoe Award winner).

Most book reviewers suggest grades 4-7 for the interest level and the book jacket says “ages 9-12.”  The book jacket cover seems geared to that interest level, too, and the main character is 11.  However, she has always had to act older than her peers, and I think 7th- and 8th-grade readers could identify with her.  There is nothing inappropriate for younger readers, but I think the interest and comprehension level is closer to 5th-8th grade.

This is the Newbery Honor Book for 2011, but I would have awarded it the Medal.  Highly recommended.

Awards/Lists:  Best Books of the Year 2010; Children’s Books of the Year Ages 9-12, 2011; King Medal Author Award 2011; Newbery  Honor Book 2011; Notable Children’s Books 2011–Middle Readers; Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts, 2011; Publisher’s Weekly Best Children’s Books 2010.

Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is content riding the rails with her Daddy, but he sends her to Manifest, Kansas, to spend the summer of 1936 with folks from his youth. While there, she lives with the interim Baptist minister and spies around town with two new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne.

Abilene is puzzled about her father’s connection to the town, so she searches for mention of him in old newspaper clippings and stories told by Miss Sadie, the local fortune-teller.

Although the main story of Moon Over Manifest takes place in 1936, flashbacks to the years 1917-1918 touch on prohibition, WWI, immigration, orphan trains, Spanish influenza, the KKK, and the unfair treatment of coal mine workers.

The author, Clare Vanderpool, has created something akin to a Richard Peck novel with laugh-aloud humor, “down-home” sayings, memorable characters and tight-knit community relationships. On a deeper level she infuses the story with positive values such as good manners, hard work, patriotism, care for the homeless, neighborliness, family, etc.

If the book has a weakness, it would be that the author tries to accomplish too much in one book—too many sub-plots and mysteries, too many historical topics, too many morals to the story.  The frequent insertion of flashbacks, personal letters, and newspaper clippings makes the storyline choppy.

Although Abilene visits the local “medium, diviner, fortune-teller, spirit-conjurer” to get information about her Daddy, the Hungarian immigrant uses that persona as a ruse. In reality, she functions mainly as a natural healer and listening ear for folks in the community. There are several references to the Bible.

A complex yet enjoyable story that teaches a lot of history.

Awards/Lists:  Children’s Books of the Year 2011 (12-14); Newbery Medal Winner, 2011; Notable Children’s Books, 2011; Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, 2011.

It’s the summer of 1944, and Lily goes with her Grandmother to their family’s beach house in Rockaway, New York.  Lily happily anticipates weekend visits from her father and carefree days spent with her best friend, Margaret, as usual.

Unfortunately, the war has changed everything.  Just two weeks ago, the Allies landed on Normandy Beach. Now Margaret’s family must move to Detroit so that Margaret’s father can work in a factory building B-24 bombers.  Worse yet, Lily’s father is being sent overseas. Lily’s stuck–alone–with her grouchy grandmother.

Lily finds unexpected friendship with an Hungarian refugee named Albert.  As Albert confides in Lily about the hardships endured by his family, Lily understands more fully why her father went to war and  appreciates her grandmother more.

In a note to the reader, Patricia Reilly Giff explains that Lily’s story springs from her own childhood experiences and “that Lily’s world has always been in my head.” This familiarity shines through in the story’s rich detail and realistic feel.

Lily is one of those spunky, imperfect female protagonists. She hates to practice the piano and avoids it like the plague.  By her own admission she has lots of problems–including daydreaming and telling lies.

Albert and Lily confess to each other about times they lied , and they make a pact to be brave and not to lie in the future. James 5:16 exhorts, “confess your sins to each other.”

The 5th-grade class at Webster Christian School studies World War II, and I think this book would make an excellent reading circle novel for them to read and discuss.

Caution:  Contains 1 swear word (p.5).

Awards/Lists:  Boston Globe Horn Book–Fiction and Poetry Honors, Newbery Honor Book