I really liked this book. The story was great and the characters were so life like. It deals with racial separation and what people dealt with during the Ku Klux Klan days. I really liked the narrator she was just an average kind of different teenage girl. It makes you realize the struggles some people face just because of what color their skin is.
Review/Description
This suspenseful story is set in the Florida orange groves of the 1950s. Dove, 15, is increasingly aware of the tensions between the white grove owners and the black migrant workers who pick the fruit. She has a budding romance with Chase Tully, and is concerned about Gator, a black friend who works in her father's grove and is increasingly angry about the conditions. When fires break out in the area, suspicion falls on the orange pickers. Dove begins to question many things, which leads her to discover a Klan meeting in progress. Not only does she see Chase Tully there, she also sees her father. This eventually leads to an exciting, violent but overly melodramatic confrontation between the young people and the Klansmen. Except for Delia, the Alderman family's black housekeeper, the adults in this story do not have a lot to offer. Dove's father weakly goes along with the crowd because he has known these people all his life. The old-boy network that runs the town is full of stereotypical racists. But make no mistake, this well-written story conveys the simmering racial hatred and bigotry of the times. Gator is a strong, admirable character who is tempting fate by having a white girlfriend and by actively advocating for the workers. Chase and Dove are earnest young people trying to make the best of a bad situation. Period details about movies, cars, hairdos, and the like add authenticity. This is certainly a page-turner and it will give readers insight into a difficult and shameful part of American history.
This suspenseful story is set in the Florida orange groves of the 1950s. Dove, 15, is increasingly aware of the tensions between the white grove owners and the black migrant workers who pick the fruit. She has a budding romance with Chase Tully, and is concerned about Gator, a black friend who works in her father's grove and is increasingly angry about the conditions. When fires break out in the area, suspicion falls on the orange pickers. Dove begins to question many things, which leads her to discover a Klan meeting in progress. Not only does she see Chase Tully there, she also sees her father. This eventually leads to an exciting, violent but overly melodramatic confrontation between the young people and the Klansmen. Except for Delia, the Alderman family's black housekeeper, the adults in this story do not have a lot to offer. Dove's father weakly goes along with the crowd because he has known these people all his life. The old-boy network that runs the town is full of stereotypical racists. But make no mistake, this well-written story conveys the simmering racial hatred and bigotry of the times. Gator is a strong, admirable character who is tempting fate by having a white girlfriend and by actively advocating for the workers. Chase and Dove are earnest young people trying to make the best of a bad situation. Period details about movies, cars, hairdos, and the like add authenticity. This is certainly a page-turner and it will give readers insight into a difficult and shameful part of American history.
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