A forceful indictment of American slavery, full of lyrical beauty and shattering loss.
A nuanced historical novel that pits the bonds of family and friendship against the horrors of slavery.
In 1858, field hand Thomas lives on the Ellis plantation in Mississippi with his wife, Mary, and their daughter, 11-year-old Angel. They find comfort in small things, such as fishing, blackberries and worship with their fellow slaves. Then Thomas starts having symbolic dreams featuring a mysterious “Spirit Man”; meanwhile, his friend Lias’ son is sold to finance Mistress Ellis’ trip to New Orleans. Lias, heartbroken over the loss of his son, runs away, and Thomas and Mary worry that Angel will be sold next. After Lias is gone, the plantation’s overseer, Fitch, repeatedly rapes Lias’ wife—and when Lias is caught and returned, Fitch gives him the worst whipping that Thomas has ever seen. Fitch then kills a slave from a neighboring plantation, and Master Ellis trades Angel to pay the debt for Fitch’s actions. Although Angel’s new master is significantly gentler than Master Ellis, Mary remains inconsolable. When tragedy strikes, it’s worse than Thomas could have ever foreseen, and its reverberations are massive. Ryan’s powerful story will command readers’ attention. The Ellis plantation and the people who live there are viscerally, hauntingly real, thanks to the author’s creative choices; for example, when Thomas describes the despicable Master Ellis, he observes that he “was a big man with squinty eyes and lips like they be thin from him pressing them together all the time. I don’t believe he got room for a kind word to squeeze between them snake lips of his.” Writing in dialect can be difficult to do successfully, but by choosing to write from Thomas’ perspective, Ryan reaps the benefits of using nonstandard sentence construction without condescending to his characters. However, the world of the Ellis plantation is so engrossing that Thomas’ dreams sometimes feel like unnecessary distractions, and delineating fewer of them might have sped up the plot.
A forceful indictment of American slavery, full of lyrical beauty and shattering loss.Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 305
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
