Friday, June 28, 2013

Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman

This review was originally written in 2007.  It was moved from my general blog to my book review blog.

This, on the other hand, is a book that I wish I had bought instead of gotten from the library. The story is set in 1964 in Jackson, Mississippi, where the Moxley family has just moved. The father works for the FBI, protecting black people who are registering to vote. The main character, Alice Ann, is in 6th grade, in a school that is being newly integrated. The black girl who joins the class is Reverend Taylor's daughter, Valerie.

Although this is a work of fiction, the story feels so real that you have to know that it is based on real experience (and it is - the author herself moved to Mississippi during this time frame). This is the way history should be taught - by reading books like this.

Since Alice was an "outsider", a Yankee, she has trouble fitting in. She doesn't understand the Southerners ways and her feelings of loneliness and vulnerability are all too real. She wants to make friends, so she can't herself befriend the Negro girl, who, anyway, deliberately avoids any friendly overtures. Valerie doesn't want to be there either - as much, if not more, than the white kids (and teachers) who don't want her in "their" school.

I cried at the end of this one - cried for our inhumanity, our fallibility.

The cover of the book might be a bit of a turn-off for kids, though. It is appropriately old-fashioned and well done, but it doesn't look that appealing.

Highly recommended.

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