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4th out of 137 books
—
675 voters
The Lions of Little Rock
Two girls separated by race form an unbreakable bond during the tumultuous integration of Little Rock schools in 1958
Twelve-year-old Marlee doesn't have many friends until she meets Liz, the new girl at school. Liz is bold and brave, and always knows the right thing to say, especially to Sally, the resident mean girl. Liz even helps Marlee overcome her greatest fear - spe...more
Twelve-year-old Marlee doesn't have many friends until she meets Liz, the new girl at school. Liz is bold and brave, and always knows the right thing to say, especially to Sally, the resident mean girl. Liz even helps Marlee overcome her greatest fear - spe...more
Hardcover, 298 pages
Published
January 5th 2012
by Putnam Juvenile
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I don't have a lot to say about this. I learned the history of the events from the outside, the way the old school texts wrote it, and from the inside, from the perspective of the fears and dreams of the participants. I was also entertained by the story of Marlee and how she found her voice.
It's a pretty intense story - parents of children younger than the protagonists, 7th grade, might want to read it before their child does to be sure the child is ready and also to be sure that the parent is...more
It's a pretty intense story - parents of children younger than the protagonists, 7th grade, might want to read it before their child does to be sure the child is ready and also to be sure that the parent is...more
Wow! This book grabbed my from the first chapter and would not let go. What an amazing tale of friendship, Civil Rights, and growing up in Little Rock during one of the most heated and divisive times in its history. I was so impacted by our visit to Central High a few years ago on a summer trip. The painful history there resonated with me so distinctly. Levine, a fellow Virginian, brilliantly focuses her story on the year after the Little Rock Nine courageously forced the integration of Central...more
First line:
"I talk a lot."
An intriguing read about a year during the civil rights movement set in Little Rock in the 50's. I get frustrated with anyone being bullied or picked on by people who think they are bigger and better than someone else. This story brought out some of the frustration and I wanted to knock a few heads together. I have to say I enjoyed all the characters because they all changed or ended up suffering with the natural consequences of their actions.
Marlee hardly speaks. Her f...more
"I talk a lot."
An intriguing read about a year during the civil rights movement set in Little Rock in the 50's. I get frustrated with anyone being bullied or picked on by people who think they are bigger and better than someone else. This story brought out some of the frustration and I wanted to knock a few heads together. I have to say I enjoyed all the characters because they all changed or ended up suffering with the natural consequences of their actions.
Marlee hardly speaks. Her f...more
A really excellent historical fiction story set in Little Rock during the height of segregation. I'm not normally one who enjoys HF but this book was one I couldn't put down. I rooted for Marlee, her father, Liz, etc throughout the whole story.
While reading this story, I kept going online to research some of the events that were referenced. I applaud Levine for creating such a historically accurate story. I absolutely love that it will encourage readers to learn more about what these girls/ch...more
While reading this story, I kept going online to research some of the events that were referenced. I applaud Levine for creating such a historically accurate story. I absolutely love that it will encourage readers to learn more about what these girls/ch...more
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First Off: The cover is so pretty and ties into the story in so many ways. The notebook paper represents the old schools, and the gates represent the zoo, a prime meeting location for Liz and Marlee. The dove and crow obviously symbolize African-Americans and Whites, and Liz gives Marlee a crow feather for good luck. Now onto my review!
This book is about the year 1959 in Little Rock, Arkansas, a few years after the Little Rock Nine, and a critical point in its integration. To stay segregated, th...more
This book is about the year 1959 in Little Rock, Arkansas, a few years after the Little Rock Nine, and a critical point in its integration. To stay segregated, th...more
2014 Rebecca Caudill nominee. Historical fiction. In 1958, the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, closed its high schools in defiance of federal law in order to avoid integration. Students either took correspondence school courses, attended a "private" school, or went to live with relatives in other towns if they wanted to go to school. 12-year old Marlee's older sister was sent
Marlee, an elective mute at school, talks at home but now her big brother David has gone away to college and her sister ha...more
Marlee, an elective mute at school, talks at home but now her big brother David has gone away to college and her sister ha...more
In 1958 Little Rock, Arkansas, 12-year-old math whiz Marlee dares to befriend Liz, a colored girl who tries to pass as white. Amid the tension of the movement to integrate schools, Liz helps shy and quiet Marlee to find her own voice.
This is a powerful novel that sheds light on a chapter of history that hasn't received much attention in literature: what happened AFTER the Little Rock Nine integrated high schools in 1957? As Levine demonstrates, change did not come easily to Little Rock, and the...more
This is a powerful novel that sheds light on a chapter of history that hasn't received much attention in literature: what happened AFTER the Little Rock Nine integrated high schools in 1957? As Levine demonstrates, change did not come easily to Little Rock, and the...more
I loved this book and am looking forward to reading her other novel. So richly developed and grounded in history. The emotional drama is intense and the historical references are complicated -- but it is so well-written that you never feel "hit over the head" with either -- but instead informed and uplifted. That she chose to write about the "lost year" after the Little Rock Nine makes this such a useful and important resource. She explores the hard realities of racial issues in that time and pl...more
This story is about a group of black students that are enrolled at a local white high school. 12 year old Marlee is preparing for the new school year and is very nervous about speaking in class. She doesn't really have any friends until she meets a girl named Liz. Liz is a bold and brave new girl and stands up for herself in front of the snobby students. Liz and Marlee form a friendship when working together on their history project. Liz really helps Marlee overcome her fear of speaking in front...more
This was a really moving book that made me realize (again), how lucky we are to live in a world with laws and ideals forged by brave, good-hearted people before us. I do think there are clear parallels to be drawn from the issues in this book to many current societal struggles. Oppression of any person or group of people is dangerous.
I think a child reading this would find it easy to understand and relate to this book from either Liz or Marleen's point of view (or both). It reminded me strongl...more
I think a child reading this would find it easy to understand and relate to this book from either Liz or Marleen's point of view (or both). It reminded me strongl...more
I loved, loved, loved Kristin Levine's The Lions of Little Rock. Since I had also LOVED The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, I knew to expect great things from her, and I was not disappointed. I'm not sure which of the two is my favorite, favorite. I loved both books so much. All I can say is that I definitely want to reread them both!
I LOVED both Marlee and Liz. Marlee is a heroine that I found so easy to love. She's so shy, so wonderfully smart but painfully shy. So shy that her family--who loves an...more
I LOVED both Marlee and Liz. Marlee is a heroine that I found so easy to love. She's so shy, so wonderfully smart but painfully shy. So shy that her family--who loves an...more
This novel is like an exploding bottle of Mountain Dew that showers everyone with emotion, fear, friendship, and hope. Thirteen-year-old Marlee chooses not to talk out loud. She'll confide with her sister and talk with her family or Sally, her friend from kindergarten, but it is not much. She's no chatterbox, that's for sure, nor is she a selective mute. She talks in her head and deals with stress by reciting the times tables or prime numbers. She usually describes people in her head as types of...more
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Levine's second novel is just as good as, perhaps even better than her first (The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had). Again she's dealing with racial tensions and an unlikely friendship that crosses racial lines, this time set in Little Rock during the process of school integration during the 1958-1959 school year.
While this is a better effort on the part of Levine's publishers than the last book, the cover art still leaves much to be desired. As a result I'm not going to be able to get many/any kids to...more
While this is a better effort on the part of Levine's publishers than the last book, the cover art still leaves much to be desired. As a result I'm not going to be able to get many/any kids to...more
The minute I got to know Marlee, I knew she'd be a character I'd love. The setting: Little Rock in 1958; the issue: integration--should blacks and white attend the same school. While Marlee's family is finding their views on this issue, Marlee is finding her voice...literally. Her new friend Liz, helps her conquer her fears from giving a speech in class to standing up for her beliefs on race in a community where hatred is present. I loved how the bond between mother and daughter grew because bot...more
Oh my- The Lions of Little Rock is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I am a sucker for YA historical fiction and I love the Ernest Greene Magical World of Disney movie so Marlee and Liz's story is like mind candy. Set in Little Rock the year after integration, Marlee is starting junior high while big sis and mom (a high school teacher) are awaiting for the high schools to open. Marlee (who is very shy) warms up to the new girl Liz. When Liz and Marlee partner up for a history pro...more
This is a really powerful piece of historical fiction based on some real events. The year is 1958, the setting is Little Rock, Arkansas. The public high schools are shut down to prevent further integration and the conflicts that ensued. The main character, Marlee, and her friend Liz are the kind of characters that really get into your heart. They are such normal girls, wanting friendship & struggling to grow up, but they also have such unusual courage and perception. The author makes you car...more
I won't lie, I was not expecting to love this book. With Lions of Little Rock, I picked it up to start reading one night after I finished another Cafe Book (library program) nomination that left me wanting. The next thing I knew it was midnight, and I was halfway through the book. Every time I picked up this book I got sucked into the story and lost track of time. I love how Marlee decides she doesn't care that Liz is a different race and that people say they shouldn't be friends. I love that sh...more
Words are not Marlee's thing. She doesn't like to talk to anyone beyond her family and few friends. Words are easy to confuse. They are unclear and imprecise. Numbers, on the other hand, are constant and steady. They are reliable and relaxing. Marlee will need their support if she is going to get through the next series of changes in her life. This will be the first year Marlee will be without her brother. He's off to college. The night before school is to start, Governer Faubus announced in an...more
The Teaser: Marlee is nearly 13 years old and that means it is high time for her to get over her fear of... well, fear of almost everything, actually. A quiet girl, who greatly prefers math and numbers to words and people, Marlee lives her life categorizing people as what type of drink they'd be and following around the same Queen Bee bossy and popular girls that she's known forever. When the school year starts and Marlee meets outgoing new girl Liz (warm milk with a dash of cinnamon), she think...more
The other night I watched a documentary on PBS about Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird, and the impact it may have had on the Civil Rights Movement (or that the Civil Rights Movement had on the publishing climate). This book had been on my to read list for a while, and after watching the documentary, I found I wanted to read a book set when to Kill a Mockingbird came out (or close). I was not disappointed...the Lions of Little Rock is a book about a very shy girl with a pension for math (Merlee)...more
In 1958, 12-year-old Marlee's forbidden friend helps her find her own voice in concert with the adults around her who have been quietly acquiescent to the battle against integration that closed high schools in Little Rock, AK.
A fresh and original take on an important time in US history. The theme of finding one's voice is an important one, made clear for young readers by the sympathetic, nearly mute main character whose shyness is socially crippling. When Liz, new in school, befriends her and tu...more
A fresh and original take on an important time in US history. The theme of finding one's voice is an important one, made clear for young readers by the sympathetic, nearly mute main character whose shyness is socially crippling. When Liz, new in school, befriends her and tu...more
In the hands of a lesser-writer, I think I would've hated this book and have had so, so many intellectual and philosophical issues with it. Fortunately though, Levine is pretty aces and it does the thing that the best historical fiction does. Namely, gives you insight into the time period without being a total snoozefest history lesson and making things real by way of incredibly compelling voice and characterization. Yes, it is the story of Little Rocks "lost year" and the battle over integratio...more
Some books introduce you to a really special character. Kristin Levine has done that with the protagonist of her new novel, The Lions of Little Rock, twelve-year old Marlee. Marlee is a brilliant math student, who dreams of becoming a rocket scientist (although she wonders if it's only boys who can have careers in math). But at school, Marlee is painfully shy, and is so nervous she's scared of saying anything in class. Not surprisingly, it's difficult for her to make friends. It's 1958 in Little...more
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Richie's Picks: THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK by Kristin Levine, Putnam, January 2012, 304p., ISBN: 978-0-399-25644-8
"Oh I'd be in my stride, a king down to the core.
I could roar a way I never roared before
And then I'd...RRWWWWWWOOOOF! And roar some more."
-- The Cowardly Lion, "If I Only Had the Nerve"
"Ever since the Soviets sent up that Sputnik satellite last year, I've been studying really hard. Maybe someday I'll study mathematics at college and become a rocket scientist. Only thing is, when our...more
"Oh I'd be in my stride, a king down to the core.
I could roar a way I never roared before
And then I'd...RRWWWWWWOOOOF! And roar some more."
-- The Cowardly Lion, "If I Only Had the Nerve"
"Ever since the Soviets sent up that Sputnik satellite last year, I've been studying really hard. Maybe someday I'll study mathematics at college and become a rocket scientist. Only thing is, when our...more
Written by Kristine Levine, 2012.I read this book for a children's lit class and I really like it! I like the author's style of writing and she took an interesting bit of history, making it informational to read. The book explained the struggles going on to segrated Little Rocks schools. It talked about friendship in general, friendship between black and white middle school girls, friendships between sisters and brothers and learning how to be who you are as a person. The book gave a good idea o...more
Almost everybody has heard of the Little Rock Nine, a time when nine Black students were allowed entry into an all-white school. The attempt at integration couldn’t be called a raging success, what with armed forces required to have the teenagers brought to the school and all of them having to endure verbal and physical abuse during their short year term.
But this isn’t that story. This is what came afterwards, when people in Little Rock became ashamed that the world saw them as nothing more than...more
But this isn’t that story. This is what came afterwards, when people in Little Rock became ashamed that the world saw them as nothing more than...more
I was not into this, although to its credit, it wasn't the The Help For Children that I was afraid it might be at first--the white protagonist isn't a big heroine, and the black people aren't there just to help her learn a lesson. And it also eased up on its Historical Referencedropping after a few pages. But overall: too long, too slow, too much in the protagonist's head. It felt like the same thing was happening forEVer, and then when more dramatic stuff did happen, it felt contrived. I might...more
Book #65 Read in 2012
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
This is a great historical fiction book for young adults. This book is set in the late 1950s in the south and address the issue of segregation of races in schools. In this book, Marlee is very shy and basically doesn't talk to anyone outside of her immediate family. Then she meets Liz, the new girl at school. The two strike up a friendship. Liz wants to help Marlee speak more so they work together on an oral report for class. Then Ma...more
The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
This is a great historical fiction book for young adults. This book is set in the late 1950s in the south and address the issue of segregation of races in schools. In this book, Marlee is very shy and basically doesn't talk to anyone outside of her immediate family. Then she meets Liz, the new girl at school. The two strike up a friendship. Liz wants to help Marlee speak more so they work together on an oral report for class. Then Ma...more
I don't care who you are, drop what you're doing and read this book. Right now. I know the cover is terrible, but I promise you won't regret it. I believe you won't be able to put it down. I certainly couldn't.
Kristin Levine's sophomore novel is absolutely divine. Beautifully written, with a rich story that covers several topics that are in no way dated, although the story takes place in 1958. While most people know about Little Rock, Arkansas and what took place in 1957 (the integration of the...more
Kristin Levine's sophomore novel is absolutely divine. Beautifully written, with a rich story that covers several topics that are in no way dated, although the story takes place in 1958. While most people know about Little Rock, Arkansas and what took place in 1957 (the integration of the...more
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“I think a friend is someone who helps you change for the better. And whether you see them once a day or once a year, if it's a true friend, it doesn't matter.”
—
22 people liked it
“Because all the words in the world won't do much good if they're just rattling around in your head.”
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4 people liked it
More quotes…
Feb 18, 2013 07:38am