Fire From the Rock

Fire From the Rock by Sharon M. Draper


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A good story for young people, that explores the changing world of integration during the 50's. Sharon Draper gets inside the head of an 8th grade girl, who has been "chosen" to go to Central High in Little Rock. The young lady loves her friends, and really wants to go to the "colored" high school, where she would be able to participate in clubs, go to the dances, and so on. She is also afraid that she is just not brave enough to be up to this task.

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Devil on My Heels

Devil on My Heels by Joyce McDonald


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The setting is 1959, central Florida. Dove is a teenager, and her life has become quite complicated. She is good friends with a young black man, and that is not a good thing, because the KKK is a force to be reckoned with in her town. Lots of tension, drama and suspense in this page-turner, as she deals with suspicions about her own father. Is he a member of the dispicable KKK, too?

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Al Capone Does My Shirts

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read this book back in 2008, but never got around to discussing it in my blog. This story is both funny and serious at the same time. The setting is during the 1930's, when Al Capone is a prisoner at Alcatraz. Well, curiously enough, the guards and their families really lived on the island of Alcatraz at that time, and this story is about a young man, and how he copes with a sister who has major problems (autisim?) and how he makes friends at his new school. It's a good read, with the family problems, gangsters, and Alcatraz looming in the background.

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An Unlikely Friendship

An Unlikely Friendship: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley by Ann Rinaldi


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was another incredible work of historical fiction by Ann Rinaldi. I learned some very interesting facts about Mary Todd Lincoln's childhood, that really added to my better understanding of the wife of my favorite American. Rinaldi gives the reader a look at life in the south from two very different perspectives, a young girl of privelige, and a young slave named Elizabeth. Elizabeth had an amazing life, overcoming all kinds of obstacles, to become a friend to the First Lady. A wonderful read.

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