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| Perma-Bound Edition ©2015 | -- |
| Publisher's Hardcover ©2015 | -- |
| Paperback ©2015 | -- |
Ku Klux Klan (1915- ). Fiction.
Prejudices. Fiction.
Segregation. Fiction.
Civil rights. Fiction.
African Americans. Fiction.
North Carolina. History. 20th century. Fiction.
Eleven-year-old Stella is a deep thinker who often sneaks out of the house and writes under the starlight. Writing helps Stella makes sense of life in segregated 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina. There's plenty of action--cross burnings, house burnings, a snakebite, a near-drowning, and a beating. But at its core this story is one of a supportive African American community facing tough times.
ALA Booklist (Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2014)It's 1932 in segregated Bumblebee, North Carolina, and times are tough for the tiny town. The residents of Stella's African American neighborhood scrape together what they can to get by, and that spirit of cooperation only grows stronger when Stella and her brother, Jojo, spot a Klan rally close by. Tensions are high, and nearly everyone is frightened, but Stella's community bands together to lift each other's spirits and applaud one another's courage, especially when Stella's father and a few other men register to vote, undaunted by the cruel and threatening remarks of some white townspeople. Brave Stella, meanwhile, dreams of becoming a journalist and writes down her feelings about the Klan. Inspired by her own grandmother's childhood, Draper weaves folksy tall tales, traditional storytelling, and hymns throughout Stella's story, which is punctuated by her ever-more-confident journal entries. This uplifting and nostalgic tale of community and family movingly captures both 10-year-old Stella's relatable experiences as well as the weighty social issues of the period.
Voice of Youth AdvocatesWritten as a fictional tribute to her grandmother, Draper has crafted a historical tale that addresses racial inequalities of the Depression era. Ten-year-old Stella resides in the small (imagined) town of Bumblebee, North Carolina, with her mother, father, and younger brother Jojo. Stella struggles with school and attempts to improve her writing skills by keeping a diary. Stella sneaks out at night to write about her life and her observations of the changing world around her small African American community. In the opening chapter, Stella and Jojo are out at night and witness nefarious activities of the Ku Klux Klan. Attempts by African American males of voting age to register to vote in the upcoming presidential election are met with opposition and violence. With the knowledge that the Ku Klux Klan is active in their community, Stella, her family, and other members of their community band together to stand strong against the injustices of racism.Draper's characterization of Bumblebee's African American residents is well done and readers will enjoy their interactions. A warm and homespun quality to the story balances the serious and life-threatening situations encountered throughout the book. Draper offsets the hateful attitudes of some of the white community members with compassionate, non-racist residents of Bumblebee. Stella forges a bond with Paulette Packard, the daughter of the reprehensible member of the Ku Klux Klan, Dr. Packard. Stella realizes that even seemingly perfect appearances can have a dark side. Although the primary appeal for this book will be younger readers and the middle school audience, older readers would benefit from and enjoy this slim story of historical note.Adrienne Amborski.Written for middle school readers, this historical story about Stella and her family is well executed. Readers will learn about struggles that Stella and her family face during the Great Depression. Older teens may think the book is juvenile, but it still provides a good story. 4Q, 3P.Gwen Amborski, Teen Reviewer.
School Library Journal Starred Review (Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2015)Gr 4-8 Coretta Scott King Award winner Draper draws inspiration from her grandmother's journal to tell the absorbing story of a young girl growing up in Depression-era, segregated North Carolina. One frightening night Stella and her brother Jojo witness a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan, practically in their own backyard. This meeting is the signal of trouble to come to the black community of Bumblebee. The townspeople must come together to find strength and protection to face the injustices all around them. This is an engrossing historical fiction novel with an amiable and humble heroine who does not recognize her own bravery or the power of her words. She provides inspiration not only to her fellow characters but also to readers who will relate to her and her situation. Storytelling at its finest. Tiffany Davis, Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY
Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2015)
ALA Booklist (Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2014)
National Council For Social Studies Notable Children's Trade
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Voice of Youth Advocates
School Library Journal Starred Review (Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2015)
Wilson's Children's Catalog
Wilson's Junior High Catalog
1
Flames Across the Water
Nine robed figures dressed all in white. Heads covered with softly pointed hoods. Against the black of night, a single wooden cross blazed. Reflections of peppery-red flames shimmered across the otherwise dark surface of Kilkenny Pond.
Two children, crouched behind the low-hanging branches of a hulking oak tree on the other side of the pond, watched the flickers of scarlet in the distance in fearful silence. Dressed only in nightshirts, Stella Mills and her brother Jojo shivered in the midnight October chill.
Stella yanked the boy close, dry leaves crunching beneath his bare feet. “Shh!” she whispered, holding him tightly. “Don’t move!”
Jojo squirmed out of her grasp. “It was me that saw ’em first!” he protested. “You’d still be ’sleep if I hadn’t come and got you. So lemme see!”
Stella covered her brother’s lips with her fingers to quiet him. Even though her toes were numb with cold and she knew they needed to get out of there, she could not take her eyes from the horror glimmering toward them from across the pond. “Do you know what would happen if they saw us?” she whispered, shifting her stinging feet, the crushing of dry leaves seeming far too loud.
Jojo pressed himself closer to her in answer.
Besides the traitorous leaves, Stella could hear a pair of bullfrogs ba-rupping to each other, but nothing, not a single human voice, from across the pond. She could, however, smell the charring pine, tinged with . . . what? She sniffed deeper—it was acrid, harsh. Kerosene. A trail of gray smoke snaked up to the sky, merging with the clouds.
“Who are they?” Jojo whispered, stealing another glance.
“The Klan.” Just saying those words made Stella’s lips quiver.
The Ku Klux Klan.
Here.
Here!
“What are they doing?”
“Practicing, I think.”
“For what?”
Stella paused and smoothed his bushy hair, trying to figure out the best way to answer. Jojo was only eight.
“Nothing good,” she said at last.
A horse whinnied in the distance—it sounded nervous. And there, in the shadows of the trees across the pond, Stella could make out half a dozen of them. The flames must be scaring them, too, she thought. The horses began to stamp and snort as the fire flared.
Stella inched forward, trying to get a better look. One of the harnesses seemed to sparkle in the darkness. Or was it just a stray ember from the flames? The men in the white hoods were now all raising their arms to the sky, and they cried out as one, but their exact words were muffled by cloth and wind.
“Jojo, we’ve gotta get out of here!” she whispered, now edging backward.
“Should we tell Mama and Papa?” Jojo asked.
Stella did not answer her brother. Instead she caught his hand in her tightest grip and ran.
Excerpted from Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Sharon M. Draper presents “storytelling at its finest” (School Library Journal, starred review) in this New York Times bestselling Depression-era novel about a young girl who must learn to be brave in the face of violent prejudice when the Ku Klux Klan reappears in her segregated southern town.
Stella lives in the segregated South—in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact about it. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can’t. Some folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn’t bothered them for years. But one late night, later than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her little brother see something they’re never supposed to see, something that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination. As Stella’s community—her world—is upended, she decides to fight fire with fire. And she learns that ashes don’t necessarily signify an end.