Thursday, January 15, 2015

The Lions of Little Rock

The Lions of Little Rock
Summary:
"Everything's changing for twelve-year-old Marlee.  Her brother's gone off to college and her sister's moved out of the room they've shared since Marlee was born.  To Marlee, who's not much of a talker outside her family and who doesn't have many friends, it feels like her whole world's falling apart.

On top of all that, she's starting middle school and has to break in new teachers - teachers who don't yet know Marlee doesn't talk.  It's not that she can't talk.  She just doesn't.  At least not until she meets Liz, the new girl at school. Liz is everything Marlee wishes she could be: she's brave, brash and always knows the right thing to say, especially to the resident mean girl, Sally.  Liz even helps Marlee overcome her fear of speaking.  But when Liz leaves school without even a good-bye, the rumor is that Liz was really a colored girl caught passing for white. Marlee decides that doesn't matter. She just wants her friend back. And to stay friends, Marlee and Liz are even willing to take on segregation and the dangers their friendship could bring to both their families.

Set in 1958, Kristin Levine's novel weaves a moving and heroic tale of friendship and shows us how Little Rock finally found its voice and became whole again."

Pros:  This book is a quick paced, adventurous read.  Kristin writes in a manner that instantly catches your attention and holds it the whole way through.  She makes the point that people are people, to be valued no matter what color their skin is.  This book is an intriguing story of how two girls overcome the stigma of an entire town and have the courage to do what's right, in spite of the trouble it brings them.  I really like how she used 1 Peter 3:14 as a theme throughout the book, even though it isn't technically a Christian fiction book.

Cons: The two girls have a black feather that they pretend gives them courage, kind of like in the movie Dumbo.  They also have what they call "magic squares", but I think they are just like sudoku puzzles; they don't use them for magic or witchcraft or anything like that.

Overall, this book was very good; I would recommend it!  For ages 12 and up. 

3 comments:

  1. Interesting! Is the title a reference to Little Rock, AR? Just curious since it's famous for The Little Rock Nine, the real life children who dealt with these same issues.

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  2. Yes, the book is set in Little Rock, AR! The author was going to write about the Little Rock Nine, but then decided to write about a few years after them.

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