Review: Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood

It's the summer of 1964 in Hanging Moss, Mississippi and things are a changin'.

Town Council Man, James Smith, is against desegregation. So, he shuts down the community pool “for repairs.”

Glory’s birthday is the Fourth of July and she’s always had her party at the community pool...until this year. She unknowingly enters the fray as she outspokenly denounces the decision to close the pool.

Laura Lampert’s a Yankee whose mother is starting a freedom clinic in Hanging Moss. Friends are few for a white girl who drinks from the “coloreds only” drinking fountain.

Frankie Smith is caught between his family’s hatred and his friends’ readiness for change. Bullied into doing what’s wrong separates Frankie from his friends all summer.

Miss Bloom, Hanging Moss Librarian, refuses to be bullied and invites the entire town, black and white, to a celebration at the library. 

Emma is more than Glory’s family’s maid. She’s a “freedom fighter” who shelters activists at her home and bravely attends the library’s celebration as one of the few African Americans who do. 

Glory Be has be likened to The Help and I think it’s a good analogy though the two are different in presentation. In The Help, readers see events through many characters’ eyes with each chapter presenting a different character’s point of view. In Glory Be it is Glory’s voice that is the strongest and the book is written from her point of view. The strength in Glory’s point of view is that readers get a distinct feel for what is was like for a white child to participate in the Civil Rights Movement in the South. The other characters are shown how a child would understand them. Adults’ actions are often confusing to Glory and in her innocence she attempts to set them straight. Slowly, Glory begins to understand the implications of what’s going on around her. 

The story goes beyond the Civil Rights Movement and explores a young girl growing up. The relationship between Glory and her teenage sister, Jesslyn, is in flux and I enjoyed watching that relationship change. Their father is a reverend who is somewhat distant as he deals with professional duties. Emma is a stand-in mother to the girls but not there all day. Glory has learned to turn to her sister for support and friendship but now her sister is distancing herself from Glory, desiring more privacy and "grown-up" activities. 

Change is hard -- even good change. Glory Be was an enjoyable story about friendship and family during the Civil Rights Movement. Though I wished Emma’s voice had been louder this is ultimately a story about a white child’s experience and perspective and one well worth reading. This book counts towards the POC Reading Challenge!

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2012     Pages: 202

Rating: 4 Stars     Source: Free Uncorrected Proof  (paperback)

Review: Just Juice by Karen Hesse

Juice is nine, the middle child in a family with five girls. Times are tough. Pa is out of work. Ma is pregnant. And Juice struggles to hide the fact that she can’t read. When Pa receives a letter announcing their home has been sold for back taxes Juice devises a plan to pay the taxes and keep their home.

This is a story about learning to read. Neither Pa nor Juice can read and it affects the entire family. Juice tries to hide her inability by keeping away from school and “pretend” reading to her younger siblings. Juice is a smart girl, resourceful, proactive and hardworking; yet, this one thing, her struggle with reading, dominates her life.

Little cues tell the reader that Juice is dyslexic which may need to be pointed out and discussed with young readers. When Juice’s sisters make flashcards with letters made of string Juice is able to touch the letters, to feel them, and a breakthrough is made.

This is a story about poverty. Pa and Juice work hard in their shop but sometimes there isn’t any work to be done. A social worker comes to the house to check on Ma and the baby and to bring food.

There is a lot going on in this story. Mini-spoiler alert: Juice even delivers a baby. Juice is lovable and her iron will to succeed kept my interest. But I could have done with more comic relief, fewer issues (for such a short book), and a more complicated ending than the one we’re given.

Published: Scholastic, 1998     Pages: 138
Rating: 3 Stars     Source: purchased copy

Review: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Imagine this is you: Eleven years old. Alone. In charge of two younger sisters. A girl. African American. 1968. Flying for the first time on an airplane. Meeting your mother years after she’s abandoned you – who still ignores you while you stay in her house.

This is Delphine’s life. Her father is crazy for shipping her and her sisters across the country to spend their summer in Oakland with her crazy mother. Delphine and her sisters attend a summer school run by the Blank Panthers. Things get crazy as Delphine finds herself drawn into a world she fears could lead to trouble.

Delphine narrates One Crazy Summer in an immensely introspective voice. It surprised me. I loved her, and I loved her sisters Vonetta and Fern. I loved how they stuck together and how Delphine looked out for them. I even loved their fights (that poor doll). But so much introspection makes me suggest this book is for advanced young readers or tweens. One Crazy Summer reminds me of a book adults want kids to read but kids find difficult to get through. There are a lot of historical figures and the writing utilizes dialect which slows the pace for me as a reader. I imagine some kids may have a similar experience. I think it will take the right kid to appreciate the narrative since there isn’t a whole lot of action. The action did pick up a bit in the last third and I felt rewarded for having made it through the slower parts. I enjoyed the conclusion and am glad I read the book.

This book counts towards the POC Reading Challenge.

Publisher: Amistad, 2010     Pages: 218

Rating: 3.5 stars     Source: IC Public Library

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Shanghai Girls follows the lives of two sisters, Pearl and May, from glamorous 1930s Shanghai to post-WWII United States. There are a lot of downs and very few ups in this book. The sisters encounter one tragedy after another clear to the end which didn’t encourage me to keep turning pages. On the contrary, I had to force myself to sit down to read and finish the story. Honestly, I kept thinking I could be reading Amy Tan right now instead. Although historically accurate, the novel wasn’t very powerful, just depressing. I never felt attached to or invested in any of the characters. The sisters, especially May, seemed incredibly spoiled and I never really liked her and Pearl was self-defeating for the entire novel. In many ways the characters were static and boring.

As for the prose and narrative structure, they were annoying. See writes in first person with Pearl’s voice. At first, Pearl seemed like a normal narrator. Then the prose took on a dear-diary feel that I didn’t like. And a few times Pearl addresses the reader, saying things like, you might think that…, which felt like narrator/author intrusion and didn’t work well. This shifting in narrator style ruined the effectiveness of the first person voice for me. Often, Pearl knew too much and was obviously See telling us what to think about circumstances or other characters (author intrusion again). At other times, Pearl was completely blind which didn’t coincide with her supposedly being the smart sister. The novel is written in present tense with no flashbacks which could have broken up the monotonous flow of bad events. The writing is not terrible but is just not effective or enticing.
Publisher: Random House, 2009     Source: IC Public Library
Rating: 2 Stars                                   Pages: 309