Book Description

In one moment Nicole Burns's life changes forever. The sound of gunfire at an Anne Frank exhibit, the panic, the crowd, and Nicole is no longer Nicole. Whiplashed through time and space, she wakes to find herself a privileged Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II.No more Internet diaries and boy troubles for Nicole-now she's a carefree Jewish girl, with wonderful friends and a charming boyfriend.But when the Nazi death grip tightens over France, Nicole is forced into hiding, and begins a struggle for survival that brings her face to face with Anne Frank.

"This is a powerful and affecting story." (KLIATT) ... Read more

Reviews (66)

on of the best books...
I read through the other reviews and have one thing to say - they were totally right! This book is truly one of my favorites. It is a story filled with sadness but also love and encouragement. It is a story about a young girl's bravery, pride to be Jewish, and her undying love for her family.
The book starts off with a girl named Nicole. She describles herself as the one nobody will remember at their high school reunion. Also, she has a major crush on a boy named Jack. Nicole starts a web site where she writes all of her thoughts and feelings anonymous and the only one who knows about her website is her best friend Mimi.
Nicole's class visits the Anne Frank exhibit and she is knocked out cold. In the next chapter something is not right! She is a Jewish teenage girl living under Hitler's rule in Paris! Her teacher and principle are her parents and her annoying little sister is there too! But all of her worrying soon comes to an end when Jack, known as Jacques tells her that he has loved her since third grade.
But Nicole's family is forced into hiding and she comes face-to-face with Anne Frank.
This is one of my favorite books and I think it is worth reading! It is touching and made me cry. It is very good

The Faces of the Holocaust, Including Yours and Mine
The more you know about the Nazi occupation of Paris, France, and the checkered French response to it, the more you will understand what a remarkable feat authors Bennett and Gottesfeld have accomplished in a book ostensibly for young adults. This book, full of the adolescent longing, romance, and expression of young sexuality that marks Anne Frank's own diary, is a veritable Sophie's Choice for teens. If only all historical fiction for young people could be this powerful. There are three main reasons for Anne Frank and Me's power. First, every teen (and this adult reader) will come to fall in love with the authors' heroine, a modern Christian tenth grader named Nicole, who describes herself accurately on her Girl X website as a "girl in the middle." She reminded me too much of too many of my own students, too distracted by the drama of their lives to do their homework. But under Nicole, and under my students, is a young woman who could change the world if only she'd let herself seize the day. Second, the authors' research is brilliant. Nazi-Occupied Paris comes to life as a teen would see it. Readers will understand all the major events, including the anti-Jewish laws, the yellow star decree, the July 1942 round-up of foreign-born Jews, the black market, the continuation of Paris' cultural life, the collaborationist press, the French fascist miltias, the killing of innocents in reprisal for acts of resistance.... It's all there. Both present and past are expertly rendered from a teen's eye view. The dialogue is crisp and idiomatic in the present, truthful in the past. The authors embrace Nicole, including the same romantic and erotic longings in her life that Anne Frank wrote about in her own diary. Nicole is in love with a boy who loves her. This love is reflected in her diary, as you might expect. Under the circumstances, knowing what we know about what is likely to come, it is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. Heartbreaking too is Nicole's chance meeting with Anne on a cattle car on the way to Birkenau. Parts of this book made me, a Christian teacher, shudder. I like to think that were I alive back then, I would have been another Miep Gies, doing everything I could to keep Nicole's--or Anne Frank's--family alive. I like to think I would have brought food to the Secret Annex. But who can deny that most of our Christian brethren were too worried about their own lives and too influenced by centuries of anti-Semitism to do what we could to protect our Jewish neighborhors? It made me uncomfortable to be confronted with this reality as I read. But so be it. The point of reading is not to be made comfortable. Lastly, this book is a great read, full of plot twists and turns that defied my best efforts to guess what was coming next. I read it in a single sitting, something I haven't done with a young adult novel since Speak. Whether you're a teen or a parent or a teacher or a grandparent, put Anne Frank and Me on your reading list, somewhere near the top. You will glad you did.

A brilliant story that leaves you deely moved and breathless
I was stunned by how powerful this book is and how deeply it affected me. When I checked Anne Frank and Me out of the local library, I was not expecting it to be good for some reason that I cannot explain. Yet, when I started reading it, I was amazed at how quickly it grasped my attention and how drawn I was to the main character, Nicole Burns. Nicole modeled the typical American teenager in the beginning of the story. She was self-absorbed and did not have the "time to learn" about such events in history as the Holocaust. When Nicole's class goes to the Anne Frank exhibit, Nicole gets knocked out cold and in the next chapter, the reader finds Nicole as a Jewish, Parisian girl living under Hitler's wrath. At first, Nicole has no idea who she is, where she is, or what kind of person she is. However, Nicole (whose last name is now Bernhardt)slowly begins to regain her memory as the story progresses. There were certain points in the book where I just had to look up from my reading because I was so disturbed by some of the things that Nicole and her family were subject to. When I finished Anne Frank and Me, I could not stop talking about it. I talked about it with teachers, my friends, and my family. Never before had I read something that made me understand the horrors of the Holocaust as well as Anne Frank and Me did. I do think that this book is great for teenage girls who want to understand what teenage girls during the Holocaust went through. The thought of having to go through an ordeal like the one Nicole went through, completely blows my mind. This is an excellent book and I can confidently say that no other book that I have read has moved me in the way that Anne Frank and Me did. I went into this book expecting nothing, and came out of it with a completely different view of the Holocaust.

Anne Frank and Me
This book was absolutely amazing. I loved every word! I told my mom about it and now she wants to read it. It truly was a wonderful story and I reccomended it to all my friends!

Great Book
This book about Nicole Burns, who later in the book becomes Nicole Bernhardt, shows what the Holocaust was like with every little detail. It tells that for every German soldier killed, the Gestapo would kill 100 people. It tells how even that Nicole is French, she needs to go to Vel D'Hiv, a French prison that is being held in a stadium, just because she is spending the night with a friend who is Jewish, like Nicole, but not from France.It tells how Jews had to live during the Holocaust. This is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it! ... Read more

Book Description

When Hilly’s grandmother becomes ill with Alzheimer’s disease, her family is turned upside down by revelations from her life during World War II.

Hilly’s German grandmother, HeidiGran, comes to live with her family after she gets Alzheimer’s disease. As her mind becomes more muddled, secrets buried in her past start to emerge. Why does HeidiGran keep talking about a girl named Rachel? And why does she make racist remarks about Hilly’s friend, Ruben? As Hilly struggles to cope with revelations about her family’s past, she encounters racism and prejudice for herself when a friend becomes the victim of a mindless attack.

This evocative and deftly told novel explores prejudice and its effects on multiple generations in one family. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

long, but worth every page
As SISTERLAND opens, Hilly poses a question: Is it better to know the truth, no matter how unpleasant, behind surface niceness or not? Her question is prompted partly by her recent visit to a concentration camp in France --- an experience that troubles her more than she ever expected. During the trip, Hilly's sister Zoe points out that their grandmother was German and that she makes frequent racist comments. Zoe even goes so far as to offhandedly call HeidiGran a Nazi, a charge her family instantly and thoroughly denies.

Hilly and Zoe argue constantly as they prepare for their grandmother to move in with their family. HeidiGran, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, experiences confused periods interposed with more lucid ones. She can no longer distinguish which of her memories are secrets that she's guarded from everyone her entire life. The truth is at odds with what her family has always believed. One by one, she begins to share enticing bits of these dangerous revelations with her shocked granddaughters. However, when questioned further, HeidiGran retreats into confusion.

Hilly feels compelled to uncover the truth about her grandmother's past before HeidiGran's memory is entirely erased by her disease. In the meantime, she worries about and is angered by Zoe's new friends, one of whom wears a swastika. Did Zoe's friends attack Hilly's Palestinian friend, injured in a racist attack? Hilly's concerns about racism are even closer to her heart as she begins to fall in love for the first time with her friend's brother.

Along the way, SISTERLAND tells the story of HeidiGran's childhood through flashbacks interwoven into Hilly's story. While the reader is soon clued in on HeidiGran's heartbreaking secret, there's a whopper of a surprise yet in store before the tale is done.

This is a long book, but the pace never lags. I found myself completely absorbed by Hilly's search for, and her family's transformation by, HeidiGran's truth. I highly recommend SISTERLAND for anyone who enjoys an amazingly good read crammed full of family relationships, romance, history, mystery and sympathetic characters.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (...) ... Read more

Book Description

Sarah and her mother ride the bus each morning, but the girl wonders why they have to sit in the back, apart from the white people. Her curiosity inspires her to make that short but significant journey to the first few seats. This seemingly innocent act lands Sarah in jail for breaking the law and triggers actions that alter not only Sarah’s daily bus trip but the lives of everyone, black and white, in the community. Based on the real-life story of Rosa Parks, The Bus Ride is a fictional but timely reminder that no act of courage is too small when it comes to confronting injustice. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

I think this was an excellent novel
This book is about a fifteen year old girl called Joan. She is from Ohio and came to West Virginia to make a new life. When she first came right off the train there were no greetings instead they got bad comments. A lot of people did not treat the Lee's like Americans, although Joan, Bobby, and Emily were born in America. People made fun of the Lee's because they are chinese. Sometimes in the story Joan would compare herself with the star fisher, which is a chinese folk tale. After a pie social, the Lee's start to feel more accepted by more than just a few town members. One thing because they are the first chinese- americans Clarsburg has ever seen doesn't mean that they have any differences, they are still humans they have feelings too.

Discovering Star Fishers even in America
Fifteen-year-old Joan, a Chinese-American girl from Ohio, travels to a rural village in West Virginia in 1927. This daring move makes her family the first Chinese people this town has ever seen. She and her parents immediately discover how odd they are as viwed by prejudiced bums and snobby schoolmates. The Lee family has staked everything on this gamble to unknown territory--without any extended famly to help--where they plan to open a laundry business, as they did in Ohio. Will the townsfolk flock to this new establishment, or continue washing their own dirty shirts?

The first week is a terrible strain on both the parents but especially for Joan, suffering the pangs of teenage acceptance at school and justified rebellion at home. Deeply hurt by rejection from the town in general and a snobby clique at school, Joan feels she just can't fit in, and will never be accepted, although she is praised by her teachers. Then too, she makes a tactical error by befriending a red-headed outcast whose family are Performers! Despite repeated vandalism and hate slogans on their fence, the Lee family refuses to give up and leave. Can a gracious, retired school teacher, with no family of her own, be accepted and adopted by suspicious Chinese parents--who refuse to accept charity from their kind landlady? How far will adults and even their children go to keep from becoming objects of town ridicule or bringing shame upon their family's strict code of honor? We mark Joan's budding maturity, as she recognizes that she is not the only Star Fisher (reference to a Chinese Folktale which is presented in detail) in town. An excellent introduction to culture clash in America.

The Star Fisher - Book Review
"I thought I knew what green was until we went to West Virginia." That's how Star Fisher, by Laurence Yep, starts off. The book is about a Chinese - American family who moves from Ohio to West Virginia in the 1920' s. They start a laundry bussiness, and try to fit in. Joan Lee (the main character) finds new friends and finds a new relationship with her mother.
I thought the book was good. My favorite character is Joan' s sister Emily, because she was funny, smart, and brave. She always says what she feels. Some parts were sad. Like when she gets into a fight with her mother. Although I thought it was sad, their fights drag on and on. Other than that I enjoyed reading The Star Fisher.

The Star Fisher
The one-sentence summary I found in the book is the following: "Fifteen-year-old Joan Lee and her family find the adjustment hard when they move from Ohio to West Virginia in the 1920's." Joan and her family are treated badly by most people, because of their race and also because they are new to that town. Then, Joan's mother bakes an apple pie for a church social. When the other town people find out how good the pie tastes, Mrs. Lee becomes modest and says that she had a good teacher, Miss. Lucy. Because of the apple pie, and Joan's friend's curiosity, the others accept the difference of the Lee's and they treat each other equally.

What a realistic story!
This book let me feel that Chinese are aspiring and adaptable. They are brave to attempt in order to have a better life, starting their business from zero in somewhere they don't know.
The story is about a Chinese-American girl, Joan, moving from Ohio to West Virginia with her family in order to start a bigger successful laundry. At first, they had to face many problems, for instance, they were discriminated because of their eastern appearance. But finally, the problems were solved by the help of Miss Lucy, the owner of their property.
From Joan¡¦s mother, I can see that how a mother love her children. Joan¡¦s mother was a traditional Chinese woman who would never tell her children directly that she loves them.However, she would show it by taking action, such as Joan¡¦s mother didn¡¦t know how to cook and communicate with others in English. Because of the mind of loving her children, she didn¡¦t give up any chance of studying from Miss Lucy, although she felt that it is a shame to be helped by the others.
The story is similar to the experience of Yep's family, the author, which makes me feel that it is realistic, not a story. It deserves to be read. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A lovely, touching book
This is a beautiful book. I was particularly moved by the quiet, gentle way the father and uncle helped the little boy, by showing his friends that their views were completely wrong, without berating or lecturing them, and then providing them with a new game to play. I am a bit baffled as to why one reviewer would demand to know why there are no heroines in the book. That's not what the story is about, is why. It's a gem of a book and to carp at it for not following someone else's agenda is staggeringly unfair.

I Am An American Brought to Life
For too long mainstream American clung to the idea that blue eyes and blond hair equalled an "all-American kid." In times of war, the resulting prejudice against our own citizens of Japanese descent led to some of the most shameful actions in our Nation's history. Here, a young boy's message that he is American is bolstered by the appearance of men in his family in their American military service uniforms. Heavier in its message than BASEBALL SAVED US (an outstanding title by the same author), the theme of HEROES nevertheless should be shared again and again.

Sexist and sterotypical--a really disturbing book
I wanted to like this book. The theme is one I think important. However, it was very troubling. First, the little boy is unable to speak up for himself. It's a poor message to Asian children. Second, the boy's father and uncle have to "speak" for him by appearing in uniform. All due respect to the veterans of the armed services, but why couldn't the boy resolve this problem himself instead of having grown ups do it for him? And what about heroines? This book fails to measure up to its promise. Save your money. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A CANDID, AFFIRMING STORY
School is a subject that is familiar to most children.And, attending a school outside of one's neighborhood is a subject that is becoming more and more familiar to youngsters today.At times, that situation presents adjustments and even problems.Such is the spot young Dana finds herself in.

Our story is set in Harlem in the 1950s.Dana loves her neighborhood, and her friends.But, when she scores in a high percentile on a citywide test she is sent to a newly integrated advanced school.What a change!

Some of the students at the new school are less than accepting, and even her teacher comments on Dana's language usage, saying, "Do not use `ain't' in school."When Dana attempts to change the way she talks then her old friends in the neighborhood withdraw wondering if Dana now thinks she is better than they are.

It's a challenge for Dana to find her place in two very different worlds, both of which are changing.

There are good lessons for all in this candid, affirming story illustrated with colorful oil paintings.

- Gail Cooke ... Read more

Book Description

Life is very tough in the Wyoming Territory in 1885 -- and not just because of the brutal environment. Michael Purdy is an outcast in the small town of Rock Springs. At times bullied and bloodied and at other times ignored, Michael feels that he might as well be a ghost in this town of rough miners.

But life is even tougher for Joseph Young -- a Chinese American boy Michael's age. Despised by the American miners, the Chinese work for slave wages and in increasingly dangerous conditions. Born in America but never feeling he belongs, Joseph burns with the desire to be a "real American boy" -- a dream his father and the other Chinese laborers don't understand. To them, life in America is a constant struggle against poverty, deprivation, and hate. When the town's growing resentment toward the Chinese explodes in an event of horrifying cruelty, Michael and Joseph must trust each other with their lives.

Based on the actual events of one of the worst race riots in American history, The Traitor is a powerful, haunting, and ultimately hopeful story about a unique friendship strong enough to bring two worlds together.

Reviews (3)

boys of the Wild West
Rebeccasreads highly recommends THE TRAITOR: Golden Mountain Chronicles 1885 Wyoming Territory, as not only a grand boys' adventure, it's a roller-coaster historical ride into the dark side of fighting for survival & transcending racial hatred, as well soaring into the bright side of friendship, purpose & hope.

As with all Laurence Yep's chronicles of the Chinese American experience, THE TRAITOR is a riveting read! Could not put it down! Quite serious, all the more so because the events described actually happened. It makes you think "What would I have done?"

The Best Work of Yep's Up to Date
As a graduate student working on Yep's novels, I found The Traitor the most interesting and fascinating to read among the rest of his Golden Mountain Chronicles. Not only is The Traitor full of complexity and ingenuity, but also gives us the detailed history of the Chinese immigrants in the 1880s, including the severest Chinese massacre incident and the Exclusion Act. The story starts with a boy named Joseph, son of Otter in Dragon's Gate, who shares his living experiences with a local American boy Michael. As the "traitors" from both their ethnic groups, Joseph and Michael have to use their wisdom in order to survive in the Rock Springs Massacre.

For those who would like to know more about the Chinese immigrant history, I strongly recommend this book.

Exellent portrayal of the Rock Springs Chinese massacre
This book, The Traitor, is a fantastic book. I read it in two days and could not put it down. It's, in a nutshell, about a Chinese-American boy named Joseph Young who wants to be fully American.Joe's a miner who misses San Francisco, where he used to live before the immigration laws threw him and his father out. In the adjoining town of Rock Springs is a boy named Michael Purdy. Mike is shunned due to his not having a father. Michael and Joseph find sanctuary in Star Rock, their weekly meeting place. Meanwhile, Mike's town is a Chinese hating society, so they band together one dayto kill all the Chinese out of spite. The book is based on actual events, and if you're like me, anything with to do with Chinese culture or historical fiction draws you in. Hope you like it! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Timeless Classic - MUST READ
My daughter read this book as a "classic" in 6th grade. I read it, too, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is not a story about the inequities of segregation in the South and the difficulty of social change, but it brings those issues to life better than any other book I have read. The characters are very real - both my daughter and I were able to stand in the shoes of the protagonist, even though our lives and times are completely different. I strongly recommend this book for adults and young adults.

GREAT!!
I first read this book as a freshman in high school, and I was touched by the characters who seem so like me and the people I know. Unlike many of the books that portray the prejudices in the south, this book enabled me to really sympathize with the characters. I would reccommend this book to anyone - young or old. ... Read more

Book Description

As a parent, teacher and counselor I feel that bibliotherapy is the best approach when teaching children about life's lessons. Children love picture books and if done properly it will captivate their attention. They also love rhyming books - as a Counselor the children are quick to point out when a book rhymes and love the sing-song approach to learning. This book The Lavender Llama introduces the concept of racism and discrimination to children on a very basic level. How the llamas finally get healthy again is from knowledge and love. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Lavender Llama
"The Lavender Llama" is a young children's book that addresses a complicated problem affecting a countless number of people every day: discrimination. This book is suitable for children ages three to seven. The author approaches this issue with tenderness and love. She has taken a difficult subject and produces a wonderful and loving book. "The Lavender Llama" is written with a remarkable tactfulness that is rarely found.

Author Tandy Braid is no stranger to children's issues, as she is a former teacher and currently an elementary school counselor. This book also comes with a teaching guide, which gives it a special touch. Her warmth toward children is quite evident in "The Lavender Llama." Furthermore, she displays great expertise of both illustrating and writing for children, as well as, teaching children the only way to stop hate and discrimination, is through love and respect.

FREE LESSON PLAN- Questions about reading and coloring sheet
Great book to utilize when teaching young childen 3-up about discrimination. It is the story about a llama whose Mom is red and Dad is blue, he is born lavender. The other red and blue llamas don't want to play with him because he is a different color. They end up getting sick from a disease called "discrimination." It is up to our lavender friend to find the cure - "mutual respect"! Introduces the concept of racism in a way that children can understand and relate to.Email author for lesson plan Counselortandy@aol.com. ... Read more

Book Description

In dreamlike sequences, a man symbolically confronts the trauma of his family"s incarceration in the Japanese internment camps during World War II. This infamous event is made emotionally clear through his meeting a group of children all with strange name tags pinned to their coats. The man feels the helplessness of the children. Finally, desperately he releases the name tags like birds into the air to find their way home with the hope for a time when Americans will be seen as one people—not judged, mistrusted, or segregated because of their individual heritage. Sixty years after thousands of Japanese Americans were unjustly imprisoned, the cogent prose and haunting paintings of renowned author and illustrator Allen Say remind readers of a dark chapter in America"s history. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

This Book Will Send Shivers Down Your Spine
Beautiful, poignant book. Even though it is a children's book, it is abstract, and perhaps hard for even some adults to understand. Despite the symbolic nature of most of the objects in the book, the message is clear, though blurry at the edges.

Home of the brave
This book is about Japanese children in a camp in Calofornia in 1941-1945 (World War 2). Allen Say uses a lot of descriptive writing in this book. It is very mysterious because we do not know who all the children are. I think this is a spectacular book for all agoes. I also recommend this book for anyone who likes descriptive writing.

Let's see this on adult shelves, too!
Children's books are often the best reading -- and I might not find some titles were it not for Amazon's List Makers. "Home of the Brave" by Allen Say is such a discovery, a beautiful book.

Lucky is the author who can extend his message through his own poignant illustrations. This story of a man whose kayak is swept over a falls into an underground river is told as if in a dream. Is he climbing out of a kiva? Encountering two children, he walks with them in the desert toward lights which are those of an internment camp.

This surreal story tells about a people deserted by the country to whom they had given their allegiance. We remember the injustices during World War II and wonder what scars from today's prejudices and judgments are foretold.

How I would like to hear a group of young readers discuss what this story means to them. I hope parents and teachers do not try to escape facing these issues with children. To me there is a plea for understanding and Peace, and there is Hope. I will read it again and again.

A haunting account of men, woman and children
A series of dream sequences imparts the trauma and experience of incarceration in an internment camp: an experience suffered by more than a hundred thousand Japanese Americans during World War II. Say creates a haunting account of men, woman and children who experienced the camps: kids with rudimentary reading skills will find this a thought-provoking introduction to the topic. ... Read more

Book Description

This is a novel in the guise of the tape-recorded recollection of a 110-year-old black woman who was born a slave but who lived to see the black militancy of the 1960s. The secret of this book's success is the characterization of Miss Jane. She is a master of her people's language. But more than that, she is unsurpassed as a storyteller.

"Ernest Gaines has written a book that comes down on the side of time, on the side of the future." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board) ... Read more

Reviews (40)

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
This is one of the truest fiction books I have ever read. Gaines has a way of pulling you right in the story with Miss Jane! I actually felt that I was right there on the porch sitting with Gaines as he listened to her. I could feel the pain that Gaines describes as Miss Jane goes through the trials and tribulations after the civil war. How the black slaves felt when they were "set" free, known as "freedmen". I cried and laughed with Miss Jane throughout the book, reading this book gave me a true feeling of how things were for the blacks. Gaines does not leave out many of the brutal or violent details of the time. Gaines takes you right along with him on the journey of Miss Jane and Ned. I feel the language in the book was very appropriate for a lady from Louisiana. Gaines gave great insight on how the language was "really" spoken during that time. Gaines uses this book as an example of racism and discrimination. The theme of this story is that of the perseverance of the human spirit against persecution. I think this is a well-written book that helps you see what it was like to live as a black in those times in the American south.

An incredibly valuable historical resource!
I'd thought that it wouldn't be possible for a man to write GOOD fiction from a woman's point of view. "She's Come Undone" proved my point. "Memoirs of A Geisha" proved me wrong - and I thought I'd never again find a well written fictional piece about a woman and written by a man. Ernest J. Gaines proved me once again wrong in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."

Jane, born Ticey, was "interviewed" by a man who was interested in the life of a woman who'd lived from Slavery to Civil Rights. Jane was given her name by a Yankee soldier whom she'd been told to give water by her Mistress, and it was Jane's name from then on.

When the slaves were freed, she set out with several going North. Secesh men who'd been soldiers during the Civil War (in other words, days before!) killed everyone they could find - everyone except Jane and the son of another former slave. Jane was either ten or eleven years old at the time. She traveled with the child, Ned, and raised him as her own.

This book goes through her life, through the triumphs and the disappointments, through the times she spent on different plantations and doing different jobs. Working my way through the vernacular was a challenge, but it added credibility to the story. Hatred based on skin color is rampant throughout the book; so is Miss Jane's knowing "her place." Nonetheless, she tells with touching sorrow of the love of a white man for a Creole teacher. Happiest in the fields, she was incredibly profound when she spoke of talking to the trees: "Anybody caught talking to a chinaball tree or a thorn tree got to be crazy. But when you talk to an oak tree that's been here all these years, and knows more than you'll ever know, it's not craziness; it's just the nobility you respect."

Her stories give new meaning to "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." There are those who will dissect the book for symbolism. It's not necessary to do so; "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" carries itself just fine.

bland, unmoving, cookie-cutter story
This is my least favorite book of all time. The reason? I find the Civil War era to be fascinating, and the stories about the people who lived through that period, especially the slaves, especially interesting. Those stories have the potential to emotionally stir something within you, to make you analyze the growth of our country, the meaning of war, and the value of life. However, this particular book lacks all of that. The story is a convential, cookie-cutter story about a former slave girl who grows up to be part of the civil rights movement. In the center of the book (aka. her life) there is meaningless fat that never builds into a good story. Save your time and sanity, and read another book about this era or of African Americans that will actually contribute to your life. Suggestions: Gone With the Wind, The Bluest Eye, Beloved

100 years of struggle and triumph
This well-crafted novel is written as an editor's transcription of the oral memoirs of Jane Pittman, a 110-year old woman and former slave who reminisces about her life and times. Miss Jane, in her rambling, often opinionated, but always endearing narrative style, not only tells her life story but also that of the history of the black people from slavery up to their struggles for civil rights in the 1960s.

Around ten years old when freed from slavery, Jane decides to head to Ohio to find the friendly Yankee soldier who was kind to her when his troop passed through. Although she never gets out of Louisiana, she saves a young boy, taking him under her wing when the Confederate soldiers slaughter his mother, and sets off to find a better life for the two of them. Along with the other newly freed slaves, she deals with problems in finding shelter, jobs, and education. As she ages, she becomes the matriarch of her community, and in that role provides support, inspiration, and commonsense guidance to others as they seek their rightful place in society.

Jane is a colorful character with lots of spirit and determination. Her story is full of humor, wisdom, and irony. The emphasis of the book shifts about halfway through from Jane herself to the story of the people that pass through her life. Some chapters depart from the main story to cover a particular person or incident she observes. She discusses the discrimination and violence the blacks faced in the south. She is witness to the relationship between blacks and whites, including a doomed love interest. She chronicles civil rights advances and mentions the efforts of such black leaders as Washington, Douglass, and King. She speaks of the Freedom Riders and civil rights marches. One clever chapter digresses to discuss one of the floods in her town that was caused, according to Jane, by man's egotistical notion that he can change the course of rivers. Because the story covers 100 years of Jane's recollections, time passes quickly in some spots, leaving large gaps of time missing from her life. I found it was sometimes difficult to determine how old she was when a new chapter began and how far forward time had passed. In spite of this, the novel is educational, entertaining, and uplifting, and would be an excellent book to teach older children about black history.

Eileen Rieback

A Review of Miss Jane Pittman from a Student's View
This book was completely uplifting and sincere. Although fictional, my seventh grade gifted class did believe it was true for quite some time. Gaines had a beautiful way of describing things from Jane's point of view. It was a gorgeous story to read, but my class has one question: Why did Gaines end the book the way he did, instead of ending when Jane was with talking into the tape recorder? We have still not figured out this answer, and if you do have some kind of answer to it, feel free to email me at: dragonflimag@aol.com
If you have not watched to movie yet, I recommend that you do. It is sometimes foggy when reading it which characters are who, and the movie clears that right up.
I hope you enjoyed The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman...it was book that made my class cry, full of the emotions with Ned...then laugh when Miss Jane explained certain situations.
I give this book five stars. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Realistic, and yet gentle
This is another in the American Girls series about Addy Walker, a ten-year-old African-American girl living in the America of 1865. In this story, Addy makes a new friend in the form of M'dear, a kindly old African-American woman whose blind eyes see more than most. Sadly, as Addy learns more about her new life of freedom, she learns more about the racial discrimination that pervades the world around her. It's up to Addy, with M'dear's insights, to see the way forward in such a dark world.

The final chapter is a look at what it growing up was like for African-American children in the America of 1864. Once again, I must praise American Girls for producing such a wonderful book. This story sets out race relations in a no-nonsense way, but without recrimination-it is a true lesson in healing. My eleven-year-old daughter loved this book, with its realistic history and gentle lessons, and I loved it too!

Wonderful addition to children's litterature
This book continues Addy Walker's adventures after successfully escaping her plantation for freedom up North.

Addy continues to be amazed by the opportunities that are so much more broader than those on the old plantation, but also realizes that even "free" states have racial segregation and discrimination. She is no longer the property of slaveowners, but still cannot travel certain places or excercise privlleges that whites in Philadephia are able to use.

With her friend Sarah's encouragement, Addy picks out a birthday. While such an action might seem mundane by today's standards, Addy (like others during slavery) never had a day that was uniquely hers. Taking her time with the big decision, Addy ultimately picks a day that has meaning for her and indeed, the entire nation.

A Lovely Story
Addy, an escaped slave, makes a friend, and worries about segregation. When is Addy's birthday? What can she do about prejudice between blacks and whites? How can she make this birthday a happy one? And can her new friend help her? Find out in this lovely tale. ... Read more

Book Description

Told by her brother Parr, this is the story of 18-year-old Evie, her Missouri farm family, and the turmoil created by Evie's love for the local banker's daughter. "Teens will be swept up in the emotion and immediacy of Parr's fast-paced narrative, his voice perfectly pitched between wit and melancholy. It's a story that challenges stereotypes, not only about love, but also about farmers and families and religion and responsibility––about all our definitions of 'normal.'"—BL. "Unquestionably, this is the best Kerr in years, if not ever."—V.

1995 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
1995 Recommended Books for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (ALA)
1995 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
1995 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1994 Best Book Honor Award (Michigan Library Association) ... Read more

Reviews (28)

A very good, realistic book
I read this book this fall in 8th grade English. I thought it was a very good book. It had a lot to think about- especially when I wrote a 3 page persausive essay about it. It discussed homosexuality from a neutral standpoint, taking neither side. Parr (the narrarator and the subject of my essay) was an intresting person himself. He seemed to be so purely the ordinary kid. Evie seemed like that at first. The town, Duffton, seemed like a town you might find anywhere. Some people in my class said it was "so realistic it was boring." I didn't agree. It's not centered on action, but if you're looking for an intelligent look on this topic, you'd like it.

Well told
Deliver Us From Evie, while well told, was not easy to keep my mind on while I attemted to read, and several times I found my attention wandering. It is slightly off-center, in that the title-foretold Evie and her sexual orientation take a place slightly left of the center to Parr, the narrarator and Evie's younger brother. This is not truly a problem, as it can be pleasant to find books in which a gay character's sexuality is not the focal point, but comes into play as with heterosexual characters; I just wish that such had not been so trumpeted as the main theme. In addition, the story is told in an if not emotionless, than less emotional and drier way. Still, I found that Deliver Us From Evie achieved excellence in the antistereotype department as it presented readers with one lesbian as a typical "butch" and another, a "girly-girl" prep. It would likely please a person who possesses the ability to concentrate even when a story doesn't progress at the fastest pace, but is well-written and can encourage the reader to think, and a person who isn't looking for a dramatic gay coming-out tale, else they would be sorely dissapointed.

A Change In Attitudes
This is the first book that I have ever read about a lesbian girl, Evie, and how her family has to deal with the comments and accusations, and haste rejections from their friends and neighbors. The story is told through Parr, Evie's brother, eyes and with every word, it almost seems that Evie is your sister, and Doug is your brother, and that you live on a farm. The fact that this story is told through Parr's perspective gives insight on what life was like for Evie. This book made me see the cruelness of people who you thought that you could rely on when it comes to homosexuality. With many books that focus around the male gay, this book showed just the opposite. Evie was portrayed as almost a rebel and a person that you would respect. This book has opened up doors for me into a whole new world of reading and I hope that others will read Deliver Us From Evie as an insight into something new. I hope to read more books that have characters just like Evie and Parr, put I know that Deliver Us From Evie will always be the best one.

Deliver Us From Evie=amazing
I just finished this book about two weeks ago. I thought it was amazing. It had a great theme. I loved it. It is one of my favorite books along with Cut by Patricia McCormick. M.E. Kerr is an amazing author. We had to read Gentlehands in school a few years ago, i loved it, so I decided to search through her books. Anyway, it deserves five stars, it's a great book!

My Opinion
Deliver Us From Evie
Deliver Us From Evie is a book about a girl from a small town. I first got this book without reading the summary, simply because Kerr is a good author. Thinking this book would be a comedy or a thriller, I began reading. I was very surprised to find this book was about a lesbian and the troubles she went through with her family. Evie lives in a farm, and shocks everyone in her town when she admits who she is.
This was a very interesting book, even though I disagree with the subject. Kerr did a great job giving detail and making the subject realistic enough to grab your attention. An interesting plot, whether you may be for or against homosexuality. This book challenges stereotypes. I recommend this book, but only after you have read the summary and know what the book is about. ... Read more

Book Description

In the sticky-hot summer of 1968, a year in American history marked by assassinations, Vietnam War protests, and civil rights rioting, Alice faces some trying concerns of her own. Alice longs for a connection with her mother, who is beautiful but distant, caught up in the search for a husband who will help erase the memory of Alice's father. Alice's friendship with Bridget, a tennis-playing Twiggy, introduces her to competitiveness and the shallow pettiness of spoiled rich girls, as as well as to the prejudice that many Americans still feel toward black people.

It is Alice's friendship with Doc, the family gardener and handyman, that continually brings her back to the truths that will shape the decsions in her life. Doc reminds Alice that life is about "passing the test" -- doing what's right.

FLYING SOUTH celebrates a young girl's coming-of-age in a delicate, moving narrative that sings with the understated, yet resonate, pleasures of life in the American South.

Book Description

This is the story of Chic L. Dee, a boy bird with learning disabilites, who flip-flops when he tries to fly. While he struggles to accept his limitations, he begins to discover his talents, trust his intuition and find his own way. Perhaps most importantly, he learns about making room for differences.

Any kid who has ever felt embarrassed socially, who has ever resorted to bravado in the face of shame, will understand Chic--and love this story.

The fully narrated (with original music) audio-cassette tape that accompanies this book makes it accessible to non-readers. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Supportive, Encouraging, and Fun
I'm glad this has been in print since 1996. I hope it is available for a long time. It appeals to the imagination of LD children and other children. It is supportive, encouraging, and most of all fun. I didn't see a place to recommend other books so I'd like to mention Little Lemon - Activities for Developing Motivation and Memory Skills by Betsy B. Lee. It has specific strategies along with the story. I think these two books are a helpful combination.

It's not just for kids!
This marvelous book, although written for children, has a message for all of us, regarless of age. I know both young and old people who have read and enjoyed this book. Without reservation, I would recommend it to anyone.

a great learning tool
This book is a great heart warming story about a bird who can't fly because he has a learning disability. A super story to read to your child. ... Read more

Book Description

Tired of being treated differently by his family just because he is spotted and the other rabbits are white, Spotty sets out on his own to seek acceptance. This edition of the original 1940s classic, with its vintage pictures and optimistic ending, offers a story that still needs to be told. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Favorite book found again!
Growing up in the 50's, Spotty was my favorite book (even though I loved my dad's classic children's book, Little Toot, very much too). I have one dog-eared copy but wanted one(s) for my grandchildren. And I found it here!

I have spent a life trying to treat everyone the same and not put people into categories by their color, ethnic background, their economic status ... and guess what??? I now realize that I absorbed these values from reading Spotty as a young girl! It tells so gently what it feels like to be a spotted bunny in a family of white bunnies (and ostracized) and how it feels like to be a white bunny in a family of spotted bunnies (also made to feel "different").

Do your kids and grandkids a real life-long favor by reading this enjoyable, heart-warming, positive book to them. It changed my life and could change theirs.

Linda Gramatky Smith

Daughter loves it!
My daughter, age 4, just loves this book. It is a paragraph book, not a one-liner read-aloud, and adults will find it enjoyable to read to children. The basic story is that Spotty has spots while his siblings don't. He gets left behind, runs away (which I usually don't like to see in stories, but I just correct verbally to express the dangers of and move on), and gets taken in by a family of spotted bunnies who have ostracized their plain bunny just the same as he was an outcast in his family! So, of course, eventually all the bunnies get together and learn that the spots and colors don't really matter and that it's more important to be kind and loving... all told in the warm medium of adorable bunnies which any child would love. It's rather hard to find these days, but worth buying!

A Sweet Tale of Acceptance
Spotty is a dotted, spotted bunny born to a family of white, pink-eyed rabbits. Although Spotty's mother loves him very much, as do all his brothers and sisters, she's afraid Grandpa will not approve of a bunny with brown spots, so she leaves him at home. Spotty becomes despondent and runs away, only to find a family of spotted rabbits with one all-white bunny.

The book is a celebration of differences, and teaches children the very important lesson that we are who we are, and nothing can change that, nor should we try. This reaches all levels - differences in attitude to the obvious difference in skin color.

"Spotty" reaches so much farther than any of the Rey's "Curious George" works, and I highly recommend it for every parent.

An excellent book with superb moral and illustrations.
My siblings and I were raised on this book in the 1950s and 1960s. Seeing it in the movie "You've Got Mail" brought back fond memories. I am now purchasing it for the children in my life. In an era when tolerating differences is at a shortage and sorely needed, no child should grow up without "Spotty". ... Read more

Book Description

A moving history of the struggle of African-Americans for equal education rights from colonial times to the present, from the award-winning author of over eighty nonfiction books for young readers. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Seperate but not equal
To me this book is one of the best books i've ever read.This book is about the struggles of young african americans and their struggles with education.In 1957 they tried to get black students to go in a white school and they had to walk to school by a wall of soldiers.This book is also good because each chapter is a different story about another persons struggle. This is a very good book. ... Read more