Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine - ESSENTIAL

Levine, Kristin Lions of Little Rock, 297 p. Putnam’s (Penguin), 2012.  $17.  Violence: PG (bombing, racial tension), Language: G (one swear),  Mature Content: G.  Last year Little Rock Central High School was integrated.  This year the high school is closed – no students are allowed, only teachers are coming to the building, compelled by the federal government.  Marlee, 12, is at the middle school, but her older sister, Judy, is sent away to an aunt’s so that she can still get an education.  Marlee is a very quiet person, but when she meets Liz, a new girl, she starts to find her courage.  But Liz is a colored girl, trying to pass as white, and when her secret is discovered, she disappears overnight.  Marlee is going to have to find her voice – just like the more accepting people of Little Rock, the quiet ones, will have to stop letting the noisy, the violent, the rabble rousers, speak for the entire town.  

Even though the main character is young, I think any 7^th grade or 8^th grade teacher needs to look at this as a good choice for a new class novel.  Likewise, if you have students who read historical fiction, this is a must have selection.  EL, MS – ESSENTIAL. Cindy, Library Teacher

Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Bradley - ESSENTIAL

Bradley, Kimberly Jefferson’s Sons, 360 pgs.  The Penguin Group, 2011.  $17.99.  Language: G (no swears); Mature Content G; Violence G

Thomas Jefferson had seven children by one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, who was two years younger than his oldest child.  Even though Jefferson’s wife had died, a romantic slaveholder/slave relationship was considered unacceptable.   These children of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings were strictly forbidden to acknowledge Jefferson as their father. 

Throughout the course of this book, the children struggle with the concept that their father penned the Declaration of Independence which states:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” yet still held 130 slaves. 

I found myself empathetic to the plight of these children who were too black to white, and too white to be black. EL/MS –ESSENTIAL.  Reviewer: Rebekkah Ward