by Zachary Delano Middleton ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 28, 2021
A concise Jim Crow tale that brings a true story to vibrant life.
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A debut middle-grade novel fictionalizes the experiences of the author’s father and great-uncle during the Orangeburg Massacre.
Alonzo lives in the shadow of his young uncle, Delano. Sometimes literally. On occasion, the Black 10-year-old likes to secretly follow Delano on his way to high school, just to mimic the way he walks. Born to a young mother and raised on a small farm in Orangeburg, South Carolina, by his extended family, Alonzo is always looking for approval from the older boy. The teen is Alonzo’s role model, his “big boy,” as Delano’s brother likes to tease. Delano is a football star, with skills good enough to attract college recruiters to come to town to see him play. He dreams of college, but not only to play ball. “I want to go to college because I want to build something,” he tells a friend. “I want to own land. I want to have a wife and kids, and I want to do something about the way the world is, especially for blacks. I think college will help me do that.” When Alonzo fails to get Delano his gear in time for a football game against a rival team, the boy is filled with shame for disappointing his hero. That same day, he witnesses an early vision of South Carolina’s Jim Crow order when his friend’s father is arrested for simply glancing at a White woman. Alonzo keeps getting into trouble—he’s inept at anticipating the consequences of his or anyone else’s actions—but his trespasses pale in comparison to the events that follow the appearance of the National Guard in Orangeburg. The long-simmering racial tensions are about to come to a boil, and Delano will finally have the chance to do something about the way the world is. The question, though, is what will Alonzo do when his role model goes somewhere he can’t follow?
Middleton’s prose is full of energy and life, capturing the voices and humor of his characters. At times, it becomes quite painterly, as here where he describes a football game between Alonzo and his friends: “The kids were so engrossed in the game that no one seemed to notice that the sky changed color. Long gone was the radiant orange glow that was the backdrop of Alonzo’s race for Delano’s bus. The overcast sky resembled the grey color of newly poured concrete. A storm was on the horizon.” The short novel is structured around two brief time periods: a slice-of-life section in September 1967 and the days surrounding the Orangeburg Massacre in February 1968. Between the two parts, the author includes photographs of some of the real-life inspirations for his characters taken at the time or afterward. Middleton succeeds in translating the story into immersive, youth-oriented fiction, capturing Alonzo’s psychological state and the texture of his world, including the many games and activities he enjoys with his friends. The politics of the time are present but incorporated into the tale in a way that feels organic and emotionally resonant. Young readers will enjoy this short, tragic window into the lives of Alonzo and his family and the realities of the Jim Crow South.
A concise Jim Crow tale that brings a true story to vibrant life.Pub Date: April 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1737055600
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Grace to Cultivate LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Mitali Perkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2010
Well-educated American boys from privileged families have abundant options for college and career. For Chiko, their Burmese counterpart, there are no good choices. There is never enough to eat, and his family lives in constant fear of the military regime that has imprisoned Chiko’s physician father. Soon Chiko is commandeered by the army, trained to hunt down members of the Karenni ethnic minority. Tai, another “recruit,” uses his streetwise survival skills to help them both survive. Meanwhile, Tu Reh, a Karenni youth whose village was torched by the Burmese Army, has been chosen for his first military mission in his people’s resistance movement. How the boys meet and what comes of it is the crux of this multi-voiced novel. While Perkins doesn’t sugarcoat her subject—coming of age in a brutal, fascistic society—this is a gentle story with a lot of heart, suitable for younger readers than the subject matter might suggest. It answers the question, “What is it like to be a child soldier?” clearly, but with hope. (author’s note, historical note) (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-328-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
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by Jane Yolen ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2018
Stands out neither as a folk-tale retelling, a coming-of-age story, nor a Holocaust novel.
A Holocaust tale with a thin “Hansel and Gretel” veneer from the author of The Devil’s Arithmetic (1988).
Chaim and Gittel, 14-year-old twins, live with their parents in the Lodz ghetto, forced from their comfortable country home by the Nazis. The siblings are close, sharing a sign-based twin language; Chaim stutters and communicates primarily with his sister. Though slowly starving, they make the best of things with their beloved parents, although it’s more difficult once they must share their tiny flat with an unpleasant interfaith couple and their Mischling (half-Jewish) children. When the family hears of their impending “wedding invitation”—the ghetto idiom for a forthcoming order for transport—they plan a dangerous escape. Their journey is difficult, and one by one, the adults vanish. Ultimately the children end up in a fictional child labor camp, making ammunition for the German war effort. Their story effectively evokes the dehumanizing nature of unremitting silence. Nevertheless, the dense, distancing narrative (told in a third-person contemporaneous narration focused through Chaim with interspersed snippets from Gittel’s several-decades-later perspective) has several consistency problems, mostly regarding the relative religiosity of this nominally secular family. One theme seems to be frustration with those who didn’t fight back against overwhelming odds, which makes for a confusing judgment on the suffering child protagonists.
Stands out neither as a folk-tale retelling, a coming-of-age story, nor a Holocaust novel. (author’s note) (Historical fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-25778-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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