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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33607003426486 | Young Adult | CARLTON | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
A powerful story of love, identity, and the price of fitting in or speaking out.
"The story may be set in the past, but it couldn't be a more timely reminder that true courage comes not from fitting in, but from purposefully standing out . . . and that to find out who you really are, you have to first figure out what you're not." -- Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of A Spark of Light and Small Great Things
After her father's death, Ruth Robb and her family transplant themselves in the summer of 1958 from New York City to Atlanta--the land of debutantes, sweet tea, and the Ku Klux Klan. In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but she can't be both. Eager to fit in with the blond girls in the "pastel posse," Ruth decides to hide her religion. Before she knows it, she is falling for the handsome and charming Davis and sipping Cokes with him and his friends at the all-white, all-Christian Club.
Does it matter that Ruth's mother makes her attend services at the local synagogue every week? Not as long as nobody outside her family knows the truth. At temple Ruth meets Max, who is serious and intense about the fight for social justice, and now she is caught between two worlds, two religions, and two boys. But when a violent hate crime brings the different parts of Ruth's life into sharp conflict, she will have to choose between all she's come to love about her new life and standing up for what she believes.
Author Notes
Susan Kaplan Carlton currently teaches writing at Boston University. She is the author of Love & Haight and Lobsterland ; her writing has also appeared in Self , Elle , Mademoiselle , and Seventeen . She lived for a time with her family in Atlanta, where her daughters learned the finer points of etiquette from a little pink book and the power of social justice from their synagogue.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-In 1959, Ruth Robb moves from New York City to Atlanta. The daughter of a former Magnolia Queen, she is welcomed into a world of surface beauty and perfection, where girls learn society rules from their "pink books" and gardeners measure the distance between chaise lounges with a ruler. Her friends, the pastel-clad girls from Tea and Etiquette, think of New York as full of "Jews and commies." What they don't know is that Ruth herself is Jewish-and Ruth intends to keep it under wraps. She can be Jewish on the weekends at the temple, where the rabbi preaches controversial sermons about integration, and pass for Christian everywhere else: at her school, where buildings are named after Confederate generals; at the exclusive club, where Jews aren't allowed in the door; and, most of all, with Davis Jefferson, a boy whose blue eyes and deep dimple make Ruth fall hard and fast. But when her love affair with the South is punctured by an act of violence, Ruth, who has been taught that her voice is a "strong spice" to be used sparingly, must decide how much-and who-she is willing to risk by speaking up. Inspired by the 1958 bombing of an Atlanta synagogue, this novel uses its immersive historical setting to convey truths about hatred that remain relevant today. Ruth is an initially shallow protagonist who comes to realize the smallness and egocentrism of her own actions and whose complex choices ultimately transform her into a braver, fuller version of herself. VERDICT Timely YA historical fiction that belongs on all shelves.-Elizabeth Giles, Lubuto Library Partners, Zambia © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Following her Jewish father's death, Ruth Robb moves from New York City to Atlanta in the summer of 1958. Ruth, her mother, and her younger sister, Nattie, live in her grandparents' guesthouse, and Ruth encounters differences surrounding life in the South, where lipstick melts, a girdle goes on more easily when it's stored in the freezer, and her world seems shaped by balls, clubs, debs, comportment, and etiquette. Ruth makes fast friendships with Gracie, Claudia, and Thurston-Ann, and she develops a crush on charming Davis, but she remains "secretly Jewish," attending synagogue on the sly. Her mother, a local reporter, encourages her to be honest and an individual, but Ruth thinks that it feels "good to be part of a whole, even something flowery, even something brown around the edges." When a hate crime shakes the town, Ruth develops larger concerns than keeping her dance card full and must reassess who she wants to be and who she will stand beside. Carlton captures the racism, anti-Semitism, and social interactions of the time and place with admirable nuance. The dialogue and setting are meticulously constructed, and readers will feel the humidity and tension rising with each chapter. Ages 14-up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.