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234 pp.
| Houghton
| April, 2010
|
TradeISBN 978-0-547-07659-1$15.00
(2)
YA
It's 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi. Samantha is dealing with her soldier father's death, while her mother gets involved in the civil rights movement. This rich tapestry is the backdrop to an eventful year in Sam's life, a year in which she faces death and hate and love. The pace of the novel is quick, and Sam's emotional narration is sure and intimate.
Reviewer: Robin L. Smith
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2010
166 pp.
| Houghton
| April, 2009
|
TradeISBN 978-0-547-07656-0$15.00
(3)
YA
Cashay is with her little sister Sashay when Sashay is shot and killed. Overcome with grief and responsible for herself now that her mother is using drugs again, Cashay feels hopeless--until she meets Allison, a compassionate mentor. Told from a first-person perspective, the story is authentic and, ultimately, heartwarming, creating a portrait of a girl stronger than her circumstances.
203 pp.
| Houghton
| November, 2007
|
TradeISBN 978-0-618-71715-6$16.00
(2)
4-6
In this companion to How I Found the Strong, Addy's mother abandons her at a wedding. Addy ingratiates herself with the newlyweds, and things seem to be turning around until her dirtball pappy returns. Addy tells her tale in an ingenuous present tense, her keen observations providing the information readers need about her frame of reference within this post-Civil War setting.
Reviewer: Vicky Smith
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2008
136 pp.
| Houghton
| April, 2004
|
TradeISBN 0-618-35008-X$$15.00
(4)
4-6
When his father and brother go off to fight in the Civil War, ten-year-old Shanks stays behind on his family's Mississippi farm. Over the course of two years, several characters die, a new baby is born, and the family frees their young slave, but the novel is so brief that many events feel underdeveloped or unmotivated. Shanks's first-person narrative does provide some moving moments.