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Summary
Summary
Eleven-year-old Celli lives on the white side of Mystic Georgia. In the summer of 1961, she's wishing the civil rights movement would just go away. Then the Freedom Riders arrive, and Celli meets someone who will change her life forever. The comforting presence of angels adds a gentle touch to this tale set in one of American history's most difficult times
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-The gentle voice of Julia Gipson captures the innocence of Celli, the narrator of the story by Rita Murphy (Delacorte, 2001) set in Mystic, Georgia in the summer of 1961. Even though Celli's father abandoned the family years ago, her life is sheltered and she feels the warmth not only of her mother's love but also the love and guidance of Sophie, the family's African-American housekeeper and friend. While Sophie is known as the town irritant for her outspoken support of civil rights, she is kinder and more gentle than Celli's friend, Katie, who speaks the white man's prejudice that she hears at home. When the Freedom Riders arrive, the underlying tensions of the town, divided by a color line, explode in frightening and dangerous ways. The presence of Brown Angels whom only Celli can see give her comfort and support. The hatred that is portrayed is powerful without being graphic, and listeners will get a good sense of the hostility that many civil rights workers faced and the bravery of those who supported civil rights. This is not just a good story, but also a small window into personal aspects of this powerful struggle.-Edith Ching, St. Albans School, Washington, DC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In Murphy's (Night Flying) second novel, she again mixes a folksy first-person narrative with a touch of magic, albeit with less success than in her previous work. Set in small-town Mystic, Ga., during the summer of 1961, the novel centers on 11-year-old Celli, who lives on the "white side" of town but sees visions of black angels "descending into the peach trees or sitting in the garden." Celli's single mother spends the month of July at her sister's, leaving Celli and her 14-year-old brother, Ellery, in the care of their cook, Sophie, a fiery, outspoken African-American involved in organizing the Freedom Riders' arrival. In fact, readers may find Sophie a bit too loose-lipped to be believed, given her leadership role (Why, for instance, would she confide so many of her views and plans to the children in her charge?). Then, Celli's life is turned around by the arrival of her African-American paternal grandmother, a family secret subtly foreshadowed in the text. During a demonstration, Sophie ends up in jail, and Celli's half-Jewish-half-African-American neighbor appears at her door, wrongly accused of breaking a window. The angels give Celli the courage she needs to perform a daring act. Unfortunately, the suspense never really translates to readers and Celli's motivations remain somewhat muddled. Unlike the flesh-and-blood family featured in Murphy's debut novel, the sketchily drawn characters here fail to bring the story to life. Ages 9-up. (Mar.). (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
During the summer of 1961, eleven-year-old Celli is caught up in events when her African-American housekeeper's involvement in the civil rights movement leads to a family crisis. Celli's visions of angels provide her with hope as she works out her own sense of identity after discovering that she has a black grandmother. The book is heavy-handed, but Celli's voice sounds authentic. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Narrator 11-year-old Celli lives in segregated Macon, Georgia, with her mother and brother; her father left years earlier. Celli also considers Sophie, an outspoken African-American woman who cooks and cleans for them, to be a part of the family. In 1961, when Celli's mother leaves for a month, Sophie takes care of the children. One evening she takes Celli to a church meeting where the congregation is planning a visit from the Freedom Riders. The resulting civil-rights demonstration lands Sophie in jail and pushes Celli into helping a man pursued by the Klan. Celli also meets, for the first time, her Ohio grandmother who has come with the Freedom Riders. The girl is shocked that her grandmother is African-American and even more shocked to learn that this means her light-skinned father was, too. Celli's rather too-quick adjustment to these surprises can only be explained by her relationship with Sophie and for all its drama, the story falls short of engaging the reader emotionally. The well-intentioned exploration of civil rights and racial identity tends to override the development of the characters, who remain largely one-dimensional, while strained elements of magical realism reinforce the reader's distance. Celli opens her story by describing angels that only she sees, as "Three naked black girls with creamy white wings, throwing stones on my hopscotch board." The angels appear most days, eating angel food, picking blossoms, and, near the end, playing poker on the garage roof. Murphy's strong lyrical writing was used to far better effect in her first novel, Night Flying (2000), where the magical realism was well integrated into the story. Here she has tackled tough issues in too-little depth, with symbolism that obscures rather than enlightens. Still, the story itself is a good one and has its own rewards. (Fiction. 10-13)
Booklist Review
Gr. 5^-7. It's the summer of 1961 in the segregated town of Mystic, Georgia, and Celli, 11, is caught up in the turmoil when the freedom riders and local black leaders clash with the racists, including the Klan. Celli lives on the white side of town, but she's closely bonded with her black housekeeper and friend, Sophie, and there's no prejudice in her home. The name-calling (including "nigger" and "Jew-nigger") sickens Celli. Then her grandmother Pearl, who is black, arrives, and Celli learns for the first time that the dad who left soon after she was born was half-black and passing for white, and that he was unable to find a home in either world. The plot creaks with every contrivance, including the fact that Celli's mother is conveniently away on a month's vacation while all this is going on. What will hold readers is the young girl's viewpoint of politics coming to town and right into her home. --Hazel Rochman