Francie (Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books) [Hardcover]

Karen English (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books

A distinctive new voice in children's fiction

Francie lives with her mother and younger brother, Prez, in rural Alabama, where all three work and wait. Francie's father is trying to get settled in Chicago so he can move his family up North.

Unfortunately, he's made promises he hasn't kept, and Francie painfully learns that her dreams of starting junior high school in an integrated urban classroom will go unfulfilled. Amid the day-to-day grind of working odd jobs for wealthy white folks on the other side of town, Francie becomes involved in helping a framed young black man to escape arrest -- a brave gesture, but one that puts the entire black community in danger. In this vivid portrait of a girl in the pre--Civil Rights era South, first-time novelist Karen English completes Francie's world using lively vernacular and a wide array of flesh-and-blood characters.

 

Francie is a 2000 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Francie is happiest up on her hill, bare feet pushed into the cool grass, eating a Scooter Pie, reading a Nancy Drew mystery, and--best of all--waving at "her" train as it heads up the tracks to Birmingham. Life isn't easy being a quiet, bright, "colored" eighth-grader growing up in the '30s in Noble, Alabama. The fact that Francie can be a little willful doesn't always help. Her train promises escape, the chance to travel to "places of possibility." And anywhere seems better than Noble, with its "pickaninny" racism and back-breaking routine, where she slaves away with her mother cooking and cleaning for white folks in town (when she isn't studying hard at Booker T. Washington, her clapboard country school, that is).

Francie dreams of Chicago, where her father moved a year ago to work as a Pullman porter, promising to send for Francie, her little brother Prez, and their mama as soon as he could. But Daddy has yet to come through, and Noble begins to offer possibilities of its own, the most exciting being when Francie puts her reading smarts to use tutoring an unschooled 16-year-old from nearby New Carlton. When he gets framed for attacking a white foreman, though, the courageous Francie can't keep from trying to help, endangering herself and those she holds dear. A convincing, transporting tale from Karen English, author of such lovely picture books as Just Right Stew. (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly

A keenly perceptive and gutsy heroine narrates this debut novel set in segregated 1940s Alabama. Francie, her mama and brother, Prez (named for FDR), patiently await word from her father, who has been gone for more than a year, to join him in Chicago where he works as a Pullman porter. Francie and her mother continue to make ends meet while bravely fending off the intimations from town gossips that their dream of reuniting their family may not come true. English (Just Right Stew) carefully and subtly plants the seeds for several dramatic scenes in the novel. For instance, Francie notices Holly, from a rich white family whom she and Mama work for, stealing a tube of lipstick; in a later chapter, when the shopkeeper accuses Francie of stealing a book she brought into the store with her, Holly stacks the evidence against Francie. The author effectively builds the rebellious streak in the heroine until Francie cleverly and humorously exacts revenge on the haughty Holly. English thus sets the stage for the moment when Francie comes to the aid of an older boy whom she tutored in reading and who is falsely accused of assaulting his white employer. These winning characters credibly surmount obstacles as a matter of course. In a triumphant and surprising ending, English pointedly leaves a few loose ends, but readers will come away knowing that Francie's spirit and intelligence will get her family through. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (October 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374324565
• ISBN-13: 978-0374324568
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,811,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FAVORITE FOREVER, March 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Francie (Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books) (Hardcover)

I grew up in the 50's in the north right around the corner from Beaver Cleaver. But I just loved the story FRANCIE! While it's a story about a poor black girl growing up in the south, the story is really about responsibility, trust, respect -- all the things that make life right. This story is a sweet mix of sass, suspense, and as Francie would say -- possibilities!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accurate and sensitive slice of life, May 13, 2000

By 

William (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Francie (Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books) (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book that I enjoyed reading with my 9 year old daughter. It has messages for both adult and child. It brings to life what life was like for black Americans like me in my youth. It portrays a world where hope and possibility were often dashed at a young age by life in those days, yet somehow the family never gives up.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, October 30, 2000

By 

"mollycc" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Francie (Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books) (Hardcover)

Francie is a very real character -- sassy, smart, but with just enough flaws to make her believable and likable. The events in the story show how families stick together in hard times, and how racism affects them. This book is well-written and complex enough to interest both children and adults, I highly recommend it. I especially loved the ending!