Small Moments was a pleasant surprise. A friend recommended it to me, but I was a bit incredulous - I don't read a lot of books intended for children and teens, and I was afraid I wouldn't like it. My anxieties turned out to be pointless.

Mary M. Barrow wrote this book as a tribute and memorial to Amelia MacIntosh, a black maid who worked for her family during the 1950s and '60s and had a central role in her upbringing. Amelia suffered a great deal in her life, and the author is able to portray her personality and her struggles in a way that's memorable but not too presumptuous for a white memoirist who was in a privileged position during the events of the story. Small Moments is not the most action-packed story of the Civil Rights movement you'll ever read, but it proves a valuable window on a side of mid-century race relations that doesn't get much attention: the inner worlds of white children, Southern or Northern, who were cared for and disciplined by the black help. The writing is good, too, but without being overly difficult (I imagine) for an intelligent preadolescent.