Hush [Mass Market Paperback]

Jacqueline Woodson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 2003

Toswiah Green's life ended the moment her policeman father decided to testify against a fellow officer. The Greens have had to change their identities and move to a different city. Now Toswiah is Evie Thomas, and that is the least of the changes. Her defeated father spends his days sitting by the window. Since her mother can no longer work as a teacher, she puts her energy into their new church. Her only sister is making secret plans to leave. And Evie, struggling to find her way, wonders who she is now and how she can make her future as bright as her past once was.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Toswiah Green. Evie Thomas. One girl. Two names. Two lives. When her police officer father witnesses two white cops killing a black boy, he makes the heart-wrenching decision to testify against his former friends. Overnight, thanks to the witness protection program, Toswiah becomes Evie, and she and her family leave their idyllic Denver, Colorado, life far behind. Toswiah's previously happy, lighthearted mother abruptly turns to religion, her big sister makes secret plans to escape the family, and her proud father collapses inward to a depressed, almost catatonic state. Adolescent Toswiah--now Evie--copes as best she can, taking up track and field in school, and trying to fathom who she is, and who she is becoming.

Jacqueline Woodson, Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of Miracle's Boys and many other highly acclaimed titles, delves deep into the confused hearts of a family that has lost its identity. Toswiah, as a young teenager, was already on the verge of shaping her identity as a young woman; with these shattering events, it takes every ounce of strength and courage to keep her core intact. (Ages 13 and older) --Emilie Coulter --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

When Toswiah Green's father, witness to a murder, does the right thing by testifying against two fellow police officers, he puts his entire family in danger. Now the Greens have fled for their lives, leaving behind all that is comfortable and familiar for the alien existences laid out by the witness protection program. Shifting between past and present, Woodson's (Miracle's Boys; If You Come Softly) introspective novel probes the complex reactions of 12-year-old Toswiah as she reluctantly reinvents herself as Evie Thomas. Telling lies about her past is as awkward for Toswiah as her adjustment to a new apartment, city and school, but most disturbing of all is the fragmentation of her formerly close-knit family. Toswiah's mother, searching for meaning and for support, becomes an avid Jehovah's Witness. Mr. Green slips into suicidal depression, and Toswiah's older sister, unbeknownst to their parents, arranges to enter college at 15. "Evie/Toswiah Thomas/Green," as the narrator once refers to herself, taps hidden stores of inner strength, ultimately realizing that "I am no longer who I was in Denver, but at least and at most I am." Readers facing their own identity crises will find familiar conflicts magnified and exponentially compounded here, yet instantly recognizable and optimistically addressed. Ages 10-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Speak; Reprint edition (June 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142500496
• ISBN-13: 978-0142500491
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,060,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jacqueline Woodson's awards include 3 Newbery Honors, a Coretta Scott King Award and 3 Coretta Scott King Honors, 2 National Book Awards, a Margaret A. Edwards Award and an ALAN Award -- both for Lifetime Achievement in YA Literature. She is the author of more than 2 dozen books for children and young adults and lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amanda B, Miller Place NY, November 4, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Hush (Mass Market Paperback)

The book I read was Hush, By JacquelineWoodson. This book was a fictional, drama, ethinic book.The most obvious problem in the book was the family's race, being african american.
A summary of the book Hush would be based around a girl whose birthname is Toswiah, which is later changed to Evie when put into the witness protection program. Toswiah faced many problems in this novel. After being used to living in Colorado with her family, grandmother, and having her best friend live down the street, everything changed in a matter of a day. The day and event was a hard decision for her father, who was a police officer. He witnessed a rasict homicide on a teenage boy by his two white partners. After days of thinking of what he should do, he came forward to the police department, who witnessed and interrogated witnesses. In the mean time, the two cops harassed, and called the family. The witness protection program relocated their family, giving them new identities, and they could not come into contact with any of their family or friends from Colorado, until the police department arrested the two cops. Toswiah is forced to reinvent herself and not think of the past at all.
The book was interesting becuase it shows how certain people, even cops, deal with racial problems and how it affects their families. One wrong move by anyone, can affect all parties involved. The book was also inspiring because it shows how a young girl could be so courageous and have the ability to put up with leaving family and friends, to reinvent herself and not say anything about her past.
Possibilities and questions the book raises are how did the family and friends live after they left Colorado? What ever happened to the two cops and their families? How the whole family is affected by this tradgedy? It only fully explains Toswiah and her sisters thoughts and views, but leaves out the effects this had on everyone else.
Arguments I would have against the author would be Toswiah shouldn't, have to deal with rascism and relocation. This also lead to her fathers attempted suicide and the emotional breakdown of her mother,all of which is alot for a child of her age.
The book taught me and affected me by showing me how a person, even a cop cant be trusted. They can give you one impression and totally change it in a matter of seconds. Which can affect the lives of everyday people. It shows how rascism and still exists in society, regardless of the occupation. It also shows how a young girl can deal with adult like problems at a young age, and adapt to different things when needed to.
My overall opinion of the book was it was a very good, interesting, inspiring, and a book some people can relate to, because we are all aware that these problems exist, but not to this extent. Advice I have for potential readers of this book would be to look and see how a young person can relate to such harsh opinions and impressions we have in our own society, and how every little thing can affect a person no matter how minimal.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poignant and pensive, November 7, 2002

By 

Laura Lynn Walsh "gt-teacher" (Fairbanks, AK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hush (Hardcover)

The descriptions make me want to love this book - the color of each person's skin, the way the mother's hands knead the bread, the thought of having no floor to stand on. These are all wonderful. The gradual development of Toswiah/Evie into her own person is also nice, although I thought she had it pretty much together, even at the start. There isn't much action in this book, and sometimes I felt like the book's plot was over, even before the book had really started. You knew the family had to go into hiding; you knew the mother turned to religion. But the descriptive characteristics of each person carry a lot of the story along. They are worth savoring.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poignant and pensive, November 7, 2002

By 

Laura Lynn Walsh "gt-teacher" (Fairbanks, AK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hush (Hardcover)

The descriptions make me want to love this book - the color of each person's skin, the way the mother's hands knead the bread, the thought of having no floor to stand on. These are all wonderful. The gradual development of Toswiah/Evie into her own person is also nice, although I thought she had it pretty much together, even at the start. There isn't much action in this book, and sometimes I felt like the book's plot was over, even before the book had really started. You knew the family had to go into hiding; you knew the mother turned to religion. But the descriptive characteristics of each person carry a lot of the story along. They are worth savoring.