Girls Together

by Sherley Anne Williams, Synthia Saint James (Illustrations)

Five friends get together one glorious Saturday morning. They want to get away from the Projects, where their mothers will find them something to do, and away from little brothers, who spy on them. These girls could ride bikes. They could collect bottles for the recycler to get money for the movies. But they decide to go climb trees, and off they go--Hey, hey!--linking arms.

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 1999

About the author

Sherley Anne Williams (August 25, 1944 – July 6, 1999) was an African-American poet, novelist, professor, and social critic. Many of her works tell stories about her life in the African-American community.

Williams was born in Bakersfield, California. When she was little her family picked cotton in order to get money. At the age of eight her father died of tuberculosis and when she was sixteen her mother died. She graduated from Thomas Alva Edison High School in Fresno California in 1962. In 1966 she earned her bachelor's degree in English at what is now California State University at Fresno and she received her master's degree at Brown University in 1972. The following year (1973) she became a professor of English Literature at the University of California at San Diego. She traveled to Ghana under a 1984 Fulbright grant. Her works include collections of poetry such as The Peacock Poems (1975), the novel Dessa Rose (1986), and two picture books. She also published the groundbreaking work Give Birth to Brightness: A Thematic Study of Neo-Black Literature in 1972.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Kimbria Thomas]

This is a fictional story narrating a Saturday morning in the projects. It follows five young black girls who are trying to leave the projects for a few hours so they won't be force to do any house chores or errands for their mothers. Also on of the girl had to sneak away from her baby brother because she always have to take him with her everywhere she go. They first ride bikes, try to run errands for people so they can earn money, and they climb trees. I enjoy this book because it is a true depiction of the fun times we have living in the projects or hood. My weekends were exactly like that when I was younger and it was the same for my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and the women before them.

[Megan Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short picture book about young girls living in the project’s. The pictures are beautiful and the words are set in prose form. Some of the pages would be hard to read for younger students because it doesn’t follow the usual sentence structure. That is why I would give it three stars. But I can see many students relating to the activities the girls do throughout the story in the book. It’s not super exciting though.

[Faloni © · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌹💖 🌹🤍👸🏽🤍 🌹💖🤍 🌹 💝🌹🌹💖 🌹🤍🤍♥♥ Swag swagggg!🌹❤️ 🌹 💕💕 🤍🌹🤍 🌹🤍💕💕 🌹🤍💕💕 🤍 ❤️ 🌹❤️ 🌹 🌹🤍 🌹 🤍🌹🤍 🌹🤍💕👸🏽💕 🌹🌹💕💕🤍🌹 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... 🌹💖 👸🏽🌹🤍🤍 🌹💖👸🏽🎁🤍 🌹 👸🏽💝🌹🌹💖 💝🌹🌹💖 💝

[Hthr · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's not often that I come across a children's book that I truly dislike, but Girls Together fits perfectly into that category. The story itself is good, and important for showcasing the everyday lives of young girls from the projects, as well as the world as seen through their eyes. The illustrations are done in primary colors and beautifully emphasize the story being told.

But the author has chosen to write this book using the vernacular stereotypically spoken by many families and individuals who grow up in and live in the projects: "Ruise know the names of trees. Sycamore have little fuzzy balls that itch like crazy they get on your arm or leg. Pines look like great big Christmas trees, but they mostly in people's yards, so we don't climb them much." While I understand and appreciate the need for books to speak to children from all walks of life - particularly children for whom books are not commonplace within their homes - this book really ruffled my feathers. I believe that the best way to promote a healthy understanding and further use of proper English grammar is to model and use it; I think that Sherley Anne Williams missed her opportunity to showcase a typical summer morning with young girls along with how words should be spoken, versus how they actually are.

I read fast enough that I am able to skim ahead and change words and sentences as I need to when reading aloud to my children, but I don't like needing to do so throughout an entire book. This book was not right for our family - I would not borrow it from the library or read it again.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book celebrates African American culture. Poetically written in African American slang. The illustrations are interesting and attention is paid to children living in the projects and how they view the suburbs. I think I get this book.