2010 Christy Award winner!
Jessilyn Lassiter never knew that hatred could lurk in the human heart until the summer of 1932 when she turned 13. Whe...
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Mar 19, 2009
Ron
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May 09, 2009
Jon
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Jessilyn Lassiter tells her tale of mishaps, struggles and discoveries during the summer of 1932. She's just turned thirteen and she finds trouble, or trouble finds her, just about every time she opens her mouth. Her best friend is Gemma, a slightly older African-American girl whose family lives on her daddy's farm.
All is as it should be in the south in the 30s, including segregation of the races, and everyone knows their place in the world. That is until a freak lightning strik More...
All is as it should be in the south in the 30s, including segregation of the races, and everyone knows their place in the world. That is until a freak lightning strik More...
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Jul 31, 2011
Hope
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It’s no secret that I often rate books not by plot but by how much I loved the characters. I know that makes me somewhat of an emotional reviewer, making allowances for horrible plot-holes because “the characters were just so wonderful” but I will freely admit to it.
This book, however, was not one in which I make allowances for problems with plot and pacing because of my love for the characters. This book, with its wonderful cast of realistic characters, also had a perfectly paced, tigh More...
This book, however, was not one in which I make allowances for problems with plot and pacing because of my love for the characters. This book, with its wonderful cast of realistic characters, also had a perfectly paced, tigh More...
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Oct 07, 2011
Cheryl
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I love this read. It is a book I selected for my Christian Fiction Group and I will host our discussion. It is a great first novel by Valent with great character development, suspense and mystery. Her description and plot development based around the time, disputes, issues and general problems in the SE United States during the early 1900s is excellent. I am excited to read her sequel which was released recently, Cottonwood Whispers. I am amazed this book hasn't received more notoriety from
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Dec 30, 2010
AnJa
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Got this as a free download in my phone's kindle app. A coming-of-age story told through the eyes of a courageous and independent 13 year old white girl. It is about the complexities of racism excalating hatred, descrimination and violence paving way to the notorious Klan in the southern of america during the mid-20th century. It tells of loyalty, morality, love and convictions. Chapter one's opening statement as told by Jessilyn, the young heroine-"The summer I turned thirteen I thou
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Dec 03, 2010
Sriram
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To start with, I really liked the story line as the author has taken us to 1932′s literally and I felt that as if I am living there and witnessing those events from my own eyes. Jessica’s challenges that she is facing and how she faces them heads on is amazing.
I also strongly support that what you put inside your mind will shape your future. In that sense, Jessica’s father and mother was doing the right thing.
Also, a 13 year old girl’s mind and her thought process is clea More...
I also strongly support that what you put inside your mind will shape your future. In that sense, Jessica’s father and mother was doing the right thing.
Also, a 13 year old girl’s mind and her thought process is clea More...
Aug 24, 2010
April
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Free Kindle download.
Honestly, I could not stop comparing this book to Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." It really can't be helped — a book about race issues in the 1930s-era South? How can anyone not compare the two books, right? That's not necessarily a good thing for this book, though, because "Mockingbird" is probably the most perfect book in existence, and this one just pales in comparison. Probably most any book in this genre would. Harper Lee hit it out More...
Honestly, I could not stop comparing this book to Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." It really can't be helped — a book about race issues in the 1930s-era South? How can anyone not compare the two books, right? That's not necessarily a good thing for this book, though, because "Mockingbird" is probably the most perfect book in existence, and this one just pales in comparison. Probably most any book in this genre would. Harper Lee hit it out More...
Jan 03, 2011
Megan
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This book is a great coming-of-age book that seems geared toward a young adult audience. It would be a great book for a junior high/high school English class required reading and discussion.
I enjoyed the 13-year-old perspective in this book. While this perspective made it a bit simplistic (as some reviewers have criticized) I found it to be realistic and refreshing. The young and innocent perspective wasn't tainted with *understanding* of the bias that adults have. Also, the *love* More...
I enjoyed the 13-year-old perspective in this book. While this perspective made it a bit simplistic (as some reviewers have criticized) I found it to be realistic and refreshing. The young and innocent perspective wasn't tainted with *understanding* of the bias that adults have. Also, the *love* More...
May 16, 2011
Heidi
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I LOVED this book. I had a hard time putting it down.
Jessilyn Lassiter is a 13-year-old girl growing up in the south. She's blessed with a loving Christian family. Her best friend is Gemma, the daughter of a couple who help her parents out on their farm. When Gemma's parents are killed during a lightening storm, she comes to live with the Lassiter family. The problem is that Gemma is "colored" and the Lassiters are white. This does not sit well with the community. Th More...
Jessilyn Lassiter is a 13-year-old girl growing up in the south. She's blessed with a loving Christian family. Her best friend is Gemma, the daughter of a couple who help her parents out on their farm. When Gemma's parents are killed during a lightening storm, she comes to live with the Lassiter family. The problem is that Gemma is "colored" and the Lassiters are white. This does not sit well with the community. Th More...
Dec 22, 2010
Erin
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This book is based in the Southern US during Depression Era of the 1930's. Jessilyn Lassiter is a white girl living on a farm, who has an African American best friend named Gemma. Gemma's parents die in an accidental fire and Gemma comes to live with Jessilyn. Jessilyn has a temper, quick tongue and raging curosity that often gets her in trouble
The people in the town of Calloway are not accepting of the decision for a white family to take in a 'colored' girl. Because of this, they are More...
The people in the town of Calloway are not accepting of the decision for a white family to take in a 'colored' girl. Because of this, they are More...
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Jan 06, 2011
Rachael
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This wasn't the typical Christian historical novel. I infact didn't realize it was meant to be classified as Christian until near the end when the author chose to have one of the characters get a little preachy. I did feel that the morals and themes throughout the book did convey a Christian perspective, but it wasn't overbearing as some books can be. The above mentioned incident felt forced to me, it had contradicted Jessie's comments in the book about her father--he is the one who gave the min
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Jan 28, 2010
Louise
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For a debut novel this was a pretty good read but I would recommend it more for a youth/young adult audience.
After Gemma's mother and father are killed when their house is set on fire by lightning, the little black girl is left without a home or a family. Jessilyn Lassiter and her parents take Gemma into their home to provide her with the family that she needs. However, the townsfolk are full of prejudice and look down on the Lassiter family for taking a black child into a white home More...
After Gemma's mother and father are killed when their house is set on fire by lightning, the little black girl is left without a home or a family. Jessilyn Lassiter and her parents take Gemma into their home to provide her with the family that she needs. However, the townsfolk are full of prejudice and look down on the Lassiter family for taking a black child into a white home More...
Aug 21, 2010
Sophie
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There is much to like about this story. I like how the author evokes her setting and brings the climate and culture of the depression-era south to life for us. I like the way the author portrays religion as a force for good rather than the source of evil it often is in books and movies. And I liked the main character, Jessilyn, and her feisty, independent voice. What didn't quite work for me, though, was the novel's rather scattered focus. The author doesn't quite have control of her story or ch
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Aug 09, 2011
Debbie
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I don't know if it is that I enjoyed this book, or if it was just that I really needed to read it. I find myself at times asking what the world is coming to, some times forgetting what it already has been. This story was a good reminder of that. While I had my own troubles at 13, I had none as life altering as what the main character of this story experienced. The author did a very nice job with the realness of the language, making me feel like I was actually listening to these characters speak
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May 23, 2011
Krystl
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I'm not really sure why I liked this book so much. I think it was just plain good storytelling. It was a nice work for it's genre.
I got this book for free from Amazon (and then I tried to send it to my grandma's kindle-unfortunately, it's no longer free. :( ) It's a look into an important summer for a young teen (13)-her family takes in another young girl of color, and it creates a lot of problems in their small town. It takes place after the slaves were free, but when there was still More...
I got this book for free from Amazon (and then I tried to send it to my grandma's kindle-unfortunately, it's no longer free. :( ) It's a look into an important summer for a young teen (13)-her family takes in another young girl of color, and it creates a lot of problems in their small town. It takes place after the slaves were free, but when there was still More...
Aug 02, 2010
Kara
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I loved, loved, loved this book. I couldn't put it down. I was taken in with the first sentence. Through out the book I laughed, I cried, I was scared and I was nervous. I recomend this book to ANYONE. Hate and racism are some of the issues delt with in this story. Also, loved that morals, and kindness and religion played a huge roll. There was NO swearing too! A++
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Apr 06, 2009
Carol
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In 1932, Gemma's parents are killed in a house fire so she comes to live with her 13 year old best friend's family. The problem is that her best friend, Jessilyn, is white and Gemma is black. This doesn't sit well with the small community in Virginia. The KKK doesn't like the arrangement at all and attemtp to burn a cross in the front yard. Jessilyn shoots Walt Blevins and he vows to get revenge on her and her faather tries to make sure she is never alone so he can't get to her. Jessilyn, o
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Feb 06, 2011
Marie
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I stumbled across this book at the library and decided to check it out. I loved it! After reading it I told my mom about it, and she told me that she had read it and that it was a trilogy. I, of course, had to go find the others, and loved them just as much. In the first book Jessilyn is a 13 year old tomboy who can't help but speak her mind and is saved by a knight in shining armor when the local boys try to drown her in the creek. There is definitely a love story, but so much more too. T
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Dec 15, 2010
Tina
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I really enjoyed this book though I initially wasn't sure going into it. I mostly started reading since it was a free book offered for the Kindle app on my cell phone. Though I've read any number of books about segregation in America, I found that this book had a unique insight through the eyes of a 13-year-old girl whose family takes in a black girl, during the Depression era, when the girl's parents die. The consequences of that is not good to say the least. What I liked most about this bo
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Apr 05, 2011
Keith
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I read this primarily because it was available for free on my Kindle. It is a coming-of-age story set in the deep south during the times of intense racial conflict. I normally stay away from "Christian" novels because they are too often heavy handed and full of moralizing, but I thought that in this case the faith of the main characters was at least reasonably rendered. The characters were largely one-dimensional, which is often the case in these types of books, but at that same time t
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Jan 12, 2011
Kimberly
rated it:
I got this while it was free on kindle, but was intrigued by the story also. Set in the 1930's, it follows Jessalyn through some very difficult times.
My favorite quotes:
"That light is bright enough to light up a little speck of the night sky so a man can see it a ways away. That's what God expects us to do. We're to be lights in the dark, cold days that are this world. Like fireflies in December."
"...ain't nothing bad ever changed to good without More...
My favorite quotes:
"That light is bright enough to light up a little speck of the night sky so a man can see it a ways away. That's what God expects us to do. We're to be lights in the dark, cold days that are this world. Like fireflies in December."
"...ain't nothing bad ever changed to good without More...
Apr 07, 2011
Marilou
rated it:
Jessilyn Lassiter never knew that hatred could lurk in the human heart until the summer of 1932 when she turned 13. When her best friend, Gemma, loses her parents in a tragic fire, Jessilyn's father vows to care for her as one of his own, despite the fact that Gemma is black and prejudice is prevalent in their southern Virginia town. Violence springs up as a ragtag band of Ku Klux Klan members unite and decide to take matters into their own hands. As tensions mount in the small community, loyalt
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Mar 03, 2010
Jennifer
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I will be reading this for my March work bookclub
This book grips you right away with its opening decleration-"The summer I turned thirteen, I thought I killed a man." The story is about a young girl (Jessilyn) whose best friend Gemma (who happens to be a person of color) comes to live with her family during the times of segregation. It is definetley a coming of age book--her first crush-first awareness of hatred/evil in the world. It has the feel of a YA book More...
This book grips you right away with its opening decleration-"The summer I turned thirteen, I thought I killed a man." The story is about a young girl (Jessilyn) whose best friend Gemma (who happens to be a person of color) comes to live with her family during the times of segregation. It is definetley a coming of age book--her first crush-first awareness of hatred/evil in the world. It has the feel of a YA book More...
Dec 28, 2010
Laura
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This book reminded me of To Kill a Mocking Bird, with a dash of The Summer of My German Soldier thrown in for taste. After I read the book, I found out that the author received a Christian books award; I never would have guessed that from the book. The mother in the book is quite faithful and prays constantly, and there is some talk of salvation and people going to hell; then again, it's set in the south in 1932 so that didn't strike me as odd at all. The book never felt preachy or pushy and
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Dec 22, 2010
Kristina
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This book was really great and something different from what I've usually been finding myself reading. The story is set in 1932 and is about a white family who took in a black girl after her parents were killed in a fire. The town of Calloway has a great deal of racism and Klan members so the book is about the difficulties the family faces by choosing to do the right thing. The entire town pretty much decides to shun them and the Klan members in the area torment them for their views. It's sad
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Feb 12, 2011
Mandy
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I got this as a free kindle download and had no idea what to expect. At first, it read like a young adult novel and I almost put it down without finishing it. Very soon, though, I realized that the subject matter (race issues in the 1930s South) were going to be described in a very plain and almost detached manner.
The book was one that I could not put down, but I truly don't know if I would recommend it to others. The story is both disturbing and uplifting; complex and simple. More...
The book was one that I could not put down, but I truly don't know if I would recommend it to others. The story is both disturbing and uplifting; complex and simple. More...
Jan 09, 2011
Shari
rated it:
This was another free kindle book, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I will warn you that the first few chapters are kind of weak, and at times the writing does seem a TINY bit over the top. But for the most part its a very good book that had me laughing and a bit choked up.
This book reminds me a lot of To Kill a Mockingbird - I had to be careful to not compare it too much because there is no way that it could be as good as TKaM. However it is definitely a story worth reading. If yo More...
This book reminds me a lot of To Kill a Mockingbird - I had to be careful to not compare it too much because there is no way that it could be as good as TKaM. However it is definitely a story worth reading. If yo More...
Dec 05, 2009
Carol
rated it:
This novel really reminds me of "To Kill a Mockingbird". The narrator is a young girl from the south. It deals with the racial tension, especially the Klan. I really enjoyed it. In fact maybe as much or ever more than Mockingbird. If you liked Mockingbird, you will like this book. I feel the author developed the main characters so well that I felt like I knew them and they were my friends. It is a very good read. I even got it free on my Kindle. What more can you ask for. With the Kind
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Dec 10, 2009
Lisa
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This is an excellent book, it is a very powerful story of the control that racism can weild.
This book is set in the 1930's in the Southern United States. Jessilyn's best friend is a black girl named Gemma. Gemma's parents work for Jessilyn's parents on their farm. Lightning strikes the home that the black family are living in, killing the parents. Gemma is taken in by Jessilyn's family, the Lassiter's.
The community turns against the family and the KKK come into the pic More...
This book is set in the 1930's in the Southern United States. Jessilyn's best friend is a black girl named Gemma. Gemma's parents work for Jessilyn's parents on their farm. Lightning strikes the home that the black family are living in, killing the parents. Gemma is taken in by Jessilyn's family, the Lassiter's.
The community turns against the family and the KKK come into the pic More...
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Sep 22, 2011
Heidideifel
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I really loved so much about this book. But the number of times the main character "happens" to stumble upon a situation that, in turn, really moves the plot along, and "happens" to run into a really vile character who would do her wrong, stretch the bounds of realism. I did love the love between the characters, the love for their adoptive daughter, the civil rights story lines, the development of the main character from girl to adolescent and the yearnings that come with t
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