(2) 4-6 Twelve-year-old Davy Michaud and his older sister Josephine face dim prospects in 1924 Biddeford, Maine, after their mother's burial. A lung ailment caused by work in a cotton mill led to her death; their father died years before in a mill accident. Then their mother's cousin, famous aviatrix Ruthie Reynard, comes to the rescue, inviting the two to join her flying circus for the summer. Davy and Jo find their places in the diverse circus community, but it's that diversity--French Canadians, Italians, Jews, Blacks, Irish, and Catholics--that draws the attention of the Ku Klux Klan, which has already attracted one hundred thousand followers in Maine. Since the small Black population of Maine provides few targets, the northern Klan attacks immigrants, especially French Canadians who have come to work in the mills. The tale balances the soaring dreams and courage of early female flyers (including Jo's new success as a wing walker) and the basest prejudices of the Klan. Philbrick's fast-paced, action-packed narrative includes deeper layers of difficult history that still resonate today. Pair with Karen Hesse's verse novel Witness (rev. 11/01), also about the Maine Klan. An author's note and suggestions for further reading are appended.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2022

(2) YA Hoose begins in the early 1920s, when Indianapolis's KKK-influenced school board created a separate, African American–only high school. By the 1950s, Crispus Attucks High had a seemingly unstoppable all-black basketball team (including future NBA great Oscar Robertson), which won two straight state titles and brought some progress to a racially divided city. Dramatic photographs, numerous sidebars, newspaper headlines, and thorough back matter enrich a thought-provoking volume. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2018

(2) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Stella is a deep thinker who often sneaks out of the house and writes under the starlight. Writing helps Stella makes sense of life in segregated 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina. There's plenty of action: cross burnings, house burnings, a snakebite, a near-drowning, and a beating. But at its core, this story is one of a supportive African American community facing tough times.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2015

(4) YA Living in postbellum Virginia, Shad follows older brother Jeremiah in joining the KKK. But after stumbling into an arrangement to teach tailoring at the colored school in exchange for reading lessons, Shad's loyalty to the Klan begins to come into conflict with his conscience. Though the tension is mostly well sustained, the narrative slows at times and the resolution feels rushed.

Reviewer: Randy Ribay

(2) YA In 1946, the producers of the Superman radio show deployed their character's popularity in a campaign against bigotry. Bowers explains how he dug through myths, examined original archives, and reached tentative conclusions about what most likely happened and why. A complex history of organizations guided by both ideology and profit, people both well-meaning and flawed, and shifts in popular sentiment. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: J.L. Bell | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2012

(1) YA Bartoletti tackles a tough, grim subject with firmness and sensitivity. Once past the origin of the Klan and its brushfire spread, the narrative focuses on the victims, not their tormentors. Period illustrations throughout make seeing believing, and the appended civil rights timeline, bibliography, and source notes are an education in themselves. Exemplary in scholarship, interpretation, and presentation. Ind.

Reviewer: Barbara Bader | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2010

(3) 4-6 After introducing the four girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, Brimner backtracks to provide historical context on segregation and desegregation in the U.S. The well-researched details--particularly regarding the efforts to bring the bombers to justice--and the numerous black-and-white photographs make this volume a worthwhile addition to civil rights movement collections. Reading list.

Reviewer: Henrietta M. Smith

(4) 4-6 Woodrow befriends his new next-door neighbor Senator Crawford, hoping to find a father figure. The boy quickly learns that friendship comes with a price--membership in the Ku Klux Klan. The story's resolution is too abrupt, but the hold the Klan had on a small 1920s Oklahoma town is described in a terrifying and historically accurate narrative.

Reviewer: Lauren Aimonette LIang

(4) YA Carl and his brother, Adam, are Polish Catholics living in Portland. After Adam is suspected of stealing, the boys are confronted with the city's anti-Catholic sentiment and the KKK. Set against the backdrop of 1922's Oregon School Question, the story provides an intriguing look into history. Though Carl's endless introspection slows the plot, readers will care about him and his brother.

Reviewer: Becky Levine

(4) YA Eleven different voices record the Ku Klux Klan's effects on a Vermont town in 1924. Many of the fictional cast (two children and nine adults) feel more like types than complex individuals. The free-verse format works well for some characters, but with others, the entries sound heavy and obviously staged. Witness has a compelling story to tell, but one that is too complex to work effectively in this format.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2001

(4) 4-6 It's 1926, and narrator Kath, eleven, and her sister are summering with their grandfather, a pastor in Peaceable, Indiana. When the local Ku Klux Klan targets Grando's black housekeeper, Kath and Grando spearhead the fight against racism. The prose is less sure-footed than the suspenseful plotting: Should Kath disobey Grando if it could mean saving his life? And which neighbor is secretly the Klan's leader?

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) 4-6 In 1961, Frannie confronts evidence of racism, past and present, in her small Oklahoma town when she befriends a black girl who has recently moved there. Deceptively nostalgic at first, this compelling novel does not shy away from revealing the town's ugly secrets, which include a history of Klan activity, as it shows Frannie's insular life slowly unraveling.

Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann

(4) 4-6 Orphan Train Children series. Each novel tells about a child who rides an orphan train to Missouri in 1866. Independent Aggie finds a home with a like-minded family and discovers the women's suffrage movement. David encounters the Ku Klux Klan because of an ex-slave friend, but he too finds his niche. The protagonists and their stories are appealing, though predictable, and will likely attract younger readers of historical fiction. Background information is appended.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert