By Kristin Levine
Interest level: Grades 5-8
It's 1958 in Little Rock Arkansas. This is the summer the governor has decided to ignore integration orders and to instead close Little Rock's high schools. Tensions are high and people, including those in the same family, do not always stand on the same side of the issues. Twelve-year old Marlee Nesbitt has one of those families. Her parents are both teachers- her dad at a junior high and her mom at a high school. Marlee prefers not to talk. It's not that she doesn't have plenty to say, it's that she prefers not to say them out loud. Then she meets Liz, the new girl at school who always seems to know the right thing to say at the right time. Liz decides she's going to help Marlee find her words, but then it comes out that Liz is a colored girl passing for white so that she can go to Marlee's all-white junior high.
The rest of the story follows not only the history and politics of the time, but also Marlee's growth as a person as she learns to fight for what she believes in. This story clearly and accurately portrays the struggles present in our nation at this painful time in history. Levine's characters on both sides of the segregation issue are well developed and believable. Pair with Through my eyes by Ruby Bridges.
This advance copy was received from the publisher for review with no compensation. Publication date Jan. 2012.
Levine, K. (2012). The lions of Little Rock. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
Levine, K. (2012). The lions of Little Rock. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
No comments:
Post a Comment