Whistling Past the Graveyard
Susan Crandall, 2013
For nine-year-old white girl Starla, being raised by her grandmother in 1960s Mississippi, the biggest thing she worries about is her grandmother's punishments. When she sneaks out to see the Fourth of July parade after being grounded and gets caught, she fears that her grandmother will send her to reform school as promised, and decides to run away to find her mother in Nashville. Along the road, she is offered a ride by a black woman, Eula, who is traveling with a baby... a white baby, as Starla discovers. Soon, Eula and Starla set on together on the road to Nashville, and Starla discovers that there are bigger dangers in the south than she thought.
This was a great book. It had the same feel as To Kill a Mockingbird (one of my favorites) - 1950s/60s racial tension as seen through the eyes of a young white girl - but at the same time it didn't feel like it was stealing from Mockingbird; it felt like its own original story. A fast read, although not necessarily an easy one. Highly recommended.
This was a great book. It had the same feel as To Kill a Mockingbird (one of my favorites) - 1950s/60s racial tension as seen through the eyes of a young white girl - but at the same time it didn't feel like it was stealing from Mockingbird; it felt like its own original story. A fast read, although not necessarily an easy one. Highly recommended.
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