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15th out of 54 books
—
51 voters
The Liberation of Gabriel King
by
K.L. Going (Goodreads Author)
Gabriel King was a born chicken. He’s afraid of spiders, corpses, loose cows, and just about everything related to the fifth grade. Gabe’s best friend, Frita Wilson, thinks Gabe needs some liberating from his fears. Frita knows something about being brave— she’s the only black kid in school in a town with an active Ku Klux Klan. Together Gabe and Frita are going to spend t...more
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
March 1st 2007
by Puffin
(first published June 16th 2005)
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Feb 16, 2009
Malbadeen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Henry
Shelves:
childrens-young-adult
Mostly I was 3 starring this book but somewhere along the way I shrugged my shoulders and started 4 starring it - ? Probably because of all the references to Jimmy Carter. For some reason that I can't completely explain or even understand myself, I have an unreasonable affection for Jimmy Carter.
I liked the two children and their summertime adventure of overcooming their fears. Children can relate to these characters, however, the themes of civil rights, Jimmy Carter's election, and the Bicentennial do not ring true in this setting for me. That said I actually lived in small town Georgia prior to and after Carter's election and worked as an elementary school librarian with 200 students. Yes, we had bullies, we were an integrated school, had a huge gap from very high to very low economic...more
Gabriel King is afraid of everything, but more than anything else, he is afraid of going into the 5th grade. Older boys have been tormenting him for years and he has had a year of peace since 4th grade is separate from the older classes but after "move up day" he can only worry about the next year. It will take a lot of work from, his best friend Frita, to make him brave enough to handle moving up. They spend their summer trying to "liberate" Gabe from his fears. From spiders and centipedes to F...more
Plot: The year is 1976. Gabriel King, just out of fourth grade, is afraid of many things, but moving up to fifth grade is the scariest thing of all. After all, he'll now be in the same wing of the school as Duke Evans and Frankie Carmen. Frita, Gabriel's best friend, also has fears some of which come from the prejudice people in their town have against black people. Frita decides that over summer she and Gabriel will make a list of their fears and face them one by one. This, she thinks, will mak...more
Jul 11, 2011
Tiffany Cooke
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People interested in the Civil Rights Movement, girls who like to read about friendship
Shelves:
2011
I really enjoyed this book. A younger reader can appreciate the story of friendship and overcoming your fears. A more mature reader can read it and understand the deeper fears of the kids, their families, and the town. Gabe is a white boy in a racist town. He is an only child of poor parents living in a trailer park. Frita is a black girl in a racist town. She has an older brother involved in The Black Panthers and parents who fight for civil rights. Their school is integrated, but many people...more
J Going
A fantastic book! Great for boys and girls, and would make a wonderful read aloud! In this book, Gabriel King has just finished fourth grade, with the help of his one and only friend Frita Wilson. The unlikely friendhsip between Gabe, an Anglo boy who fears everything from speders to falling into the toilet, and Frita, an African American girl who seems fearless to Gabe and who uses big words when she speaks, is at the center of this moving story that takes place in the summer of 1976 in...more
A fantastic book! Great for boys and girls, and would make a wonderful read aloud! In this book, Gabriel King has just finished fourth grade, with the help of his one and only friend Frita Wilson. The unlikely friendhsip between Gabe, an Anglo boy who fears everything from speders to falling into the toilet, and Frita, an African American girl who seems fearless to Gabe and who uses big words when she speaks, is at the center of this moving story that takes place in the summer of 1976 in...more
Gabriel King is afraid of many things, most especially moving up to the fifth grade where bullies await him. His best friend Frita decides to help him face all of his fears so he will be able to move up to the next grade with her. They decide to make a list of all of their fears and face them, but Gabriel’s list is three times as long because he must face spiders, centipedes, Frita’s brother, and the old dirt road. The summer of 1976 not only holds these fear facing events, but it is also Americ...more
Going, K. L. The Liberation of Gabriel King. New York: The Penguin Group, 2005.
Genre: Fiction
This is a story about a 10 years boy name Gabriel who is afraid of many things, who decided that he wasn’t going to go to the fifth grade because that is one of the many things he is afraid of. His best friend Frita (a black girl) develops a plan to make a list of all of their fears and conquer them one by one that would liberate him from all of his fears. At the end of the story both Frita and Gabriel...more
Genre: Fiction
This is a story about a 10 years boy name Gabriel who is afraid of many things, who decided that he wasn’t going to go to the fifth grade because that is one of the many things he is afraid of. His best friend Frita (a black girl) develops a plan to make a list of all of their fears and conquer them one by one that would liberate him from all of his fears. At the end of the story both Frita and Gabriel...more
Having read Fat Kid Rules the World, when I saw that K.L. Going had a new book out I just wanted to read it--I didn't really care what it was about. Last night I finally got to sit down with it, a couple hours later I was done.
For all that Gabriel King is apparently one tiny boy, he more than makes up for it in personality--even if he is a great big chicken. And that's where the liberating comes in. When Gabe misses Moving Up Day because of some bullies, his best friend Frita decides something h...more
For all that Gabriel King is apparently one tiny boy, he more than makes up for it in personality--even if he is a great big chicken. And that's where the liberating comes in. When Gabe misses Moving Up Day because of some bullies, his best friend Frita decides something h...more
1 like · like · see review
Gabriel King was a born chicken. He’s afraid of spiders, corpses, loose cows, and just about everything related to the fifth grade. Gabe’s best friend, Frita Wilson, thinks Gabe needs some liberating from his fears. Frita knows something about being brave— she’s the only black kid in school in a town with an active Ku Klux Klan. Together Gabe and Frita are going to spend t...more Gabriel King was a born chicken. He’s afraid of spiders, corpses, loose cows, and just about everything related to th...more
Cover: I really enjoyed this cover. It is very simplistic and easy to look at, though I have to admit I’m not a fan of spiders, just like the main character, Gabriel King. But I did like the colors of the cover and wanted to read it to see what it was about.
Characters: This is a cute read about friends helping each other out with their fears of the unknown, spiders, swamps, bullies, and the fifth grade. I really enjoyed reading about the two main characters, Gabriel King and his best friend, Fri...more
Characters: This is a cute read about friends helping each other out with their fears of the unknown, spiders, swamps, bullies, and the fifth grade. I really enjoyed reading about the two main characters, Gabriel King and his best friend, Fri...more
Fourth grader Gabriel King has decided that he's not going to the fifth grade. It's too scary. So his best friend Frita comes up with the idea of writing down everything they're afraid of and using the summer of 1976 to face every single fear on their list so that they'll be braver. Gabe's list is quite long. But when he finds something that Frita truly fears in their town, he knows he'll have to be brave so he can stand beside her and help her fight it.
This book was an unexpected joy to me. It...more
This book was an unexpected joy to me. It...more
1 like · like · see review
This is a realistic story about a boy with a long list of fears, especially his fear of starting fifth grade because of the bullies who pick on him, and his best friend, who decides to help him conquer his fears. Set in 1976, the story includes the struggle for civil rights in the South. There were enough details to evoke the small town setting without overwhelming the story and enough peril to keep me from getting bogged down. It's a lovely story about how an individual can respond to fear, bul...more
Gabriel King is shy and weary of the neighborhood bullies. On the last day of fourth grade he decides fifth grade is not an option. The biggest, nastiest bully will be in his school. His spunky, feisty friend Frita decides that it is time for Gabriel to face his fears.
Compiling a list of his fears, Frita systematically prods him to face them one by one over the summer in preparation for fall.
This is a cute book, but a boring one. The characters were not well developed. Considering the fact that...more
Compiling a list of his fears, Frita systematically prods him to face them one by one over the summer in preparation for fall.
This is a cute book, but a boring one. The characters were not well developed. Considering the fact that...more
Apr 03, 2010
Mark Dewey
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone, including children and fans of To Kill a Mockingbird
This was an excellent story and narrated excellently as an audiobook.
It's about this kid who is afraid of a lot of things, especially going into the next grade (because of the bullies he knows who will be there). His friend decides to help him overcome his fears, and much of the book is their adventures in doing so.
The protagonists are struggle for racial equality as a theme throughout the story.
The story flows well. It's a pretty fun story—great for people who like stories about kids in their f...more
It's about this kid who is afraid of a lot of things, especially going into the next grade (because of the bullies he knows who will be there). His friend decides to help him overcome his fears, and much of the book is their adventures in doing so.
The protagonists are struggle for racial equality as a theme throughout the story.
The story flows well. It's a pretty fun story—great for people who like stories about kids in their f...more
The Liberation of Gabriel King is about a boy and his best friend, Frita, getting over their fears. The book starts with the two of them just graduated from the fourth grade and before they can go on to the fifth grade they (mostly Gabe) has to get over their fears. Gabe is scared of simple things like spiders and centipedes and cows; he is also afraid of the fifth grade and Duke Evans who is the meanest fifth grader ever. Frita is afraid of not having Gabe in the fifth grade with her, losing he...more
I listened to this book on CD and thought that the narrator, while earnest, was ill-chosen.
The story itself was okay, although I found the premise too farfetched. The close friendship between a poor, phobic white 4th grade boy and a savvy, black girl of the same age felt forced, a vehicle to deliver all of the hard-won feel-goodness of the Carter era (remember?) and desegregation in the south in the 70s.
I have to shill this one to a game 10-year-old to see if the feel-good outweighs the farfetch...more
The story itself was okay, although I found the premise too farfetched. The close friendship between a poor, phobic white 4th grade boy and a savvy, black girl of the same age felt forced, a vehicle to deliver all of the hard-won feel-goodness of the Carter era (remember?) and desegregation in the south in the 70s.
I have to shill this one to a game 10-year-old to see if the feel-good outweighs the farfetch...more
I read this one because I liked "Fat Kid Rules the World" so much. But this one - not so much. I'm not really sure why - maybe because I was expecting something a little edgier, a little funnier. I think it was edgy in that it deals with KKK activity - that's pretty heavy for a children's book. But the writing and the characters seemed to miss the spark that they had in Going's first book. Maybe she's just more adept at writing for teens, where it's OK to be irreverent and throw around some bad...more
This is a fast read book that set in a small town America during 1976. Gabriel views himself as a hopeless chicken. He thinks some people are born brave and some people are chickens, and no matter how hard he tries, he will forever be a chicken. Gabriel's best friend Frita, believes that you can be liberated from your fears. They both make a list of what they are most afraid of, and work on liberating themselves. Sweet and touching, this is a book about race relationships that young children (4...more
My son and I read this book together. This book is a "2009-2010 Iowa Children's Choice Book." The story was about facing your fears and no matter how big or small the fear is, you can face it as long as you have someone that cares about you. Another lesson was, somethings only happen once and you can't allow other people to take the "once in your life" away from you. The book was well written and did give a good spin on civil rights movements in the mid-70's. I hope other children will enjoy it...more
This story takes place in a small town in Georgia in the summer of 1976. Gabriel King has always been a chicken and has decided that he won't go on to the fifth grade because of two bullies. His best friend Frita's mission is to have him overcome his fears over the summer. But Frita has some fears herself. Gabriel, his family and Frita and her family work together to help overcome this fear. I liked the quote from Gabriel's father -" Ain't nothing so scary when you've got people you love." This...more
Oct 12, 2007
Debbie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
prinz honor book
Shelves:
4th-6th_grade,
historical_fiction
a Printz honor book for 2006. Grade 4-7–In a small town in Georgia in 1976, Gabe King, who is white, and his friend Frita Wilson, who is African American, take on a special project. Gabe is determined not to go to fifth grade in the fall, in the "big kids" wing of the school where he will be one of the smallest students and at the mercy of bullies Duke Evans and Frankie Carmen. Frita, however, has determined to use the summer to liberate her friend from his fears and make sure he moves up with h...more
When I first read the inside jacket panel, I thought it was going to be a funny tale of two friends trying to conquer their fears. I soon found out that the book, while humorous at times, is about a little black girl, Frita, growing up in the 1970s with a little white boy as her friend. She and her family are dealing with many white people who still hold resentment against them because of their skin color. Frita’s a best friend is scared of everything and she attempts to help him conquer his fea...more
I had to quit listening to this because I found the story generally annoying and not particularly interesting. Perhaps it didn't work well for me as an audiobook? Or maybe I'm just tired of sort of preachy, unrealistic stories about kids living in the 70's. Who knows. I enjoyed Fat Kid Rules the World by Going, which is more YA than The Liberation of Gabriel King. I might be willing to give this one another go in print, but the audiobook will have to remain unfinished.
It is the summer of 1976 and Frita Wilson and Gabe King are best friends. They have the whole summer ahead of them before entering the scary fifth grade with all the other, older middle school kids. Gade is especially afraid of Duke and Frankie, who bullied and teased Gabe in the past. Frita stands up for him, but he is small and easily taunted. One other thing you should know...Frita is black and Gabe is white and the Ku Klux Klan is active in their small town of Hallowell, GA. Gabe and Frita e...more
..THIS BOOK MAKES ME REMEMBER MY CHILDHOOD ELEMENTARY DAYS WHEN my TEACHERS don't really know what a students are going through..i did experienced being bullied by some of my classmates..shooting pellet guns,punch by them,throwing worms on my head,asking for money so that we can b friends for that day only..this book really define what a child really feels when you're in that situation..i like K>L GOING for the first time i read this story..
I love this story. Gabriel does not want to go to 5th grade because he will be bullied by the terrible 6th graders. His best friend Frita decides that they will spend the summer overcoming their fears so they can go on together. The relationship between precocious (and black and female) Frita and tiny Gabriel is a wonder. The parents are actually good parents for a change, too. Sweet and satisfying read.
I was hovering between a 4.5 and a 5 star rating with this one. I really enjoyed listening to it and I liked the summer setting. At first I didn't really like it, but as the story went on, I liked it more and more. This would make a great read-aloud and it made me want to make a fear list of my own! I definitely though a lot about what I would put on it if I wrote one. This was a great book!
A delightful book! It brought back many happy memories of my era: the Bicentennial! In fact, I was about the same age as Gabe and Frita! About... =)
A good friend accepts you for who you are, but they make you want to be a better person. In this case, Frita HELPS Gabe become a better person. She's a true friend and he ends up helping her out too. I loved his list at the end.
A good friend accepts you for who you are, but they make you want to be a better person. In this case, Frita HELPS Gabe become a better person. She's a true friend and he ends up helping her out too. I loved his list at the end.
This is the tender story of two 5th graders, one black and one white, growing up in 1976 Georgia. It is a story of family, friendship, strength, bravery, and standing up for what's right. Gabriel is afraid of everything, including bullies, his best friend Frita decides to help him find courage over the summer by facing each of his fears. A wonderful story, both heartwarming and funny.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How awesone this book is! | 5 | 15 | Jul 07, 2012 06:23pm |
K.L. Going is the award winning author of numerous books for children and teens. Her first novel, Fat Kid Rules the World was named a Michael Printz Honor Book by the American Library Association, and was included on YALSA’s Best Books for Young Adults list and their list of Best Books for the Past Decade. Her books have been Booksense picks, Scholastic Book Club choices, Junior Library Guild sele...more
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I've had this on my ipod since last Summer. Her book, "Fat Kid Rules the World" is pretty great.
Feb 16, 2009 10:45pm
Feb 17, 2009 08:16am