The Help.

This weekend I finished the book my book club is reading for March....The Help by Kathryn Stockett (pictured to the right thanks to the great River Region Public Library).

Here are some of my thoughts...

1. I know some of my girls would like it. It's a challenge book, but they could do definitely read it and get something out of it. Challenge books always pay off because the stories are rich, the characters flawed yet likeable, the topics mature and universal. This one is no different.

2. I would describe it as Chick Lit, but I think it's a powerful book similar to the Secret Life of Bees.

3. I am all about strong friendships and strong families. This book is filled with both.

4. One of my FAVORITE parts of the book is when the main character, Miss Skeeter, goes to the "white" library and checks out a bunch of books for a black women who works for Miss Skeeter's friend Elizabeth. The list of books represents some of the best American Lit, some of the best books written about the disenfranchised: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Souls of Black Folks, and To Kill a Mockingbird just to name a few.

5. Also, it's not often the setting of a book strikes me as important as the setting in this book does. Jackson, Mississippi. There's a whole lot of trouble in the town during this time period in history, but I found myself longing to be there to experience the heat, meet the people, stroll through the downtown, walk the land. The South, I gather, is much different from what we know here in MN. The author did a splendid job bringing us down to her world, Skeeter's world, Aiblene's world.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. A good read. If you try it, let me know what you think.


Keep reading!
-stenson

Isabel and Amari

I just re-read Copper Sun (Sharon Draper) with a few girls in my 7READ classes. And I couldn't help but think of another equally powerful but very different story of a slave girl Chains (Laurie Halse Anderson).



The stories of two slave girls told by two of the most creative young adult authors in Young Adult literature give teen readers a chance to read historical fiction with strong characters and gripping story lines.

Both stories speak to the power of the human spirit and the gifts of real friendship. Neither story shields readers from the dark and upsetting and unforgettable horrors of slavery, but both will keep readers thinking ar beyond the last page.

Historical fiction isn't given enough credit, so in my class, they "count" for two books. Go ahead and expand your reading experiences! I think you be enthralled!

Keep reading,
stenson