YA Pick: In the Neighborhood of True

In the Neighborhood of True
by Susan Kaplan Carlton
Algonquin
2019
320 pages
ISBN: 9781616208608

Don't be fooled by the pretty pink cover and precious corsage; this pink book is one of the most important books of the year. Set in 1958, the message is timely today: love your neighbors. Don't judge people by the color of their skin, their religion, their family lineage, their financial status or their outward appearance. Judge them by the quality of their character. Sound familiar?


When her father dies suddenly, Ruth's family is forced to leave their urban lives in Manhattan and move to her grandparent's estate in Atlanta. The year is 1958 and race relations are at a boiling point in the South. Ruth is enrolled in an exclusive private school where girls of her privilege are given a genteel education.

Debutante season looms, and fish-out-of-water Ruth finds herself in lessons to learn how to be a Southern lady. No one has asked if Ruth is Jewish, and she never mentions it. Her mother is mortified and accuses Ruth of "passing" as a white deb, not a Jewish girl. Ruth wants to fit in and not cause trouble. Ruth joins the "pastel posse" of debs and hopes to be crowned Magnolia Queen like her mother and grandmother before her.

Ruth meets handsome golden boy Davis Jefferson and accepts an invitation to a dance. Soon she's dating him and falling in love. Everything is wonderful, and Ruth loves her new life.

In the "separate but equal" Jim Crow South, Ruth learns that Negros have to sit in the balcony at the movies and drink from different water fountains. She grew up in Manhattan and has never seen this before although she has to admit in her old neighborhood, she has rarely seen a person of color. The rabbi at her temple wants his congregation to support equality for all people, but  talk of politics and racial tension frighten Ruth.

When her temple is bombed, Ruth discovers Davis was there that night. He swears he had nothing to do with it, but Ruth suspects he's telling, "in the neighborhood of true," a lie. Ruth has a decision to make: embrace her religion and family or deny her background to live a lie. If she doesn't speak up, what kind of person is she?

Readers will love "vintage" details that bring the era to life, and cheer for Ruth as she navigates society and religion. Algonquin has another book winner! In the Neighborhood of True is sure to be on the top of every award list this year! The author does a brilliant job of creating unforgettable characters whose everyday decisions are complex and often unexpected.

Kudos to Susan Kaplan Carlton for bringing history to life and telling a story based on the real life bombing of the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation (The Temple) in Atlanta in 1958. Five suspects were arrested; one went on trial twice, yet all charges were later dropped.

Highly, highly recommended! You MUST read this book. It is amazing. In the Neighborhood of True would be a great whole class read and YA Teen Book Club read.

Summer Reading Club Pick: The Help

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
Berkley Publishing Group (Penguin)
2011
530 pages with reader's guide

Once in a lifetime, an achievement in literature comes along that literally sings itself off the pages! The Help held this reviewer spellbound from the opening paragraph. Told in chapters by black maids and nannies with a few chapters told by Jackson debutante Skeeter--who, by the way, is ashamed of the way her friends and even her own mother treats "the help." Skeeter is appalled by what she sees and hears at the oh, so righteous, white dinner tables and ladies teas. She begins to get an idea--why not ask some of the maids what they think about their treatment? How do they feel when a white woman acts that way? How do they feel when they can't even use the same bathroom as a white lady? How do they feel when they have their own plate, cup and utensils, and they have to keep them separate and wash them separately from the white folks' dishes?

This forward thinking is likely to get Skeeter into big trouble--her white friends may disown her and force her to leave town. But the trouble that faces her black informants will be much worse. In 1962, America is facing the Civil Rights movement at a time when lynching is not unheard of in the American South. It is during these years a church burns with three little girls inside, Medgar Evers is shot in front of his home and his children watch him die, a reverand marches to Washington to declare "I have a dream..." While most of the country watches on television, the events unfold in Jackson, Mississippi. The residents, both black and white, are a part of the country's seedy past.

Skeeter takes down the ladies's stories, typing them on her trusty old typewriter. She contacts a publishing company in New York and an editor agrees to take a look at her draft. When Skeeter realizes that the stories may actually be published, she works at a frantic pace, but she insures that the ladies' names and information is private. If anyone from Jackson knew what she was doing, or that black "help" was a part of this book, there would be blood to pay.

Book clubs around the country are going to snatch up this engaging read. The Help should be required reading in English classrooms throughout the country. It is this generation's To Kill a Mockingbird.


Highly, highly recommended for mature high school readers and adult readers. This novel has clear cross-over appeal to the ya market.



FTC Reguired Disclaimer: I had heard about this book from a friend and knew it was going to come to film. I picked up my copy one Saturday at Sam's Club for $9.99--the best thing I ever purchased for $9.99! I started reading it on Saturday morning and found that I could not put it down except to sleep. Don't miss this book. The cover says it all, "If you read only one book...let this be it."

High School Pick

The Other Side of Dark
by Sarah Smith
Antheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster), 2010
309 pages

Book Giveaway: See below

Compelling, mysterious, and just outright in-your-face fierce, The Other Side of Dark is a novel that should not be missed. Told in chapters by the two main characters, Katie tells her story of becoming an orphan--an orphan who just happens to see ghosts. What's more: she draws them in her sketch book and knows their stories. Law tells his story: son of an African American Harvard professor and a white historian mother, his story is the story of a house divided by a father who expects--no, demands--reparations from the white man for all the evils of slavery and a mother who cares more about saving old homes than repairing her marriage.

Law is from a cultured family with ties to the upper crust of Boston. Katie, on the other hand, is not from the upper crust. She has never known the big houses with butler's pantries and Ivy League parents.

Katie and Law meet and are attracted to each other. They both are broken--Katie grieves her mother's death and doesn't want to talk to ghosts anymore. Law doesn't feel that he is good enough or black enough to be his father's son. He'll never live up to his father's plans for him. What Law really wants is to study architecture--not politics or race relations--he doesn't want to fight his father's fight. Law refers to his father as "the Voice" and says "he's always on." His father is always the orator, the teacher, the professor. Law has a passive-aggressive relationship with his father that simmers just under the surface.

That's only part of the book. When Katie starts seeing George, a ghost with Down's Syndrome, she finds a mystery in a burned out mansion--Pinebank Mansion which is set to be destroyed by the city of Boston--and She sees a slave ship, a lost fortune, a broken family, and the slaves' stories begin to haunt her. The teens launch a website to preserve the mansion but neither of them realize the secrets preserved at Pinebank.

Truly a book that will make a difference. Highly, highly recommended for high school students. Mature readers in grade 8 might also enjoy the book, but do realize there are language issues.

Language, racially charged language--used by Law when speaking of his father and his father's causes.



FTC Required Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for my review.

Book Giveaway: I have 5 copies of this novel for giveaway. Post a comment and include your email. Deadline is December 15, 2010 at 12:00 a.m. MST

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