Customer Reviews

Lives of Our Own

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The story Lives Of Our Own is a story of two teenagers learning to overcome the feeling of racism in their school. In Dessina, the school Kari and Shawna attend, black's and white's do not date each other or attend the South Ball, their school's famous dance, together. Kari and Shawna had never been friends because of Kari having white skin and being popular as opposed to Shawna's black skin and a different group of friends. When they find out their parents had dated in the past, they become friends, feeling they share a secret. Kari's popular friends object to this, because Shawna wrote an article in the school newspaper implying that black's and white's should be able to attend the South Ball together. Shawna suggests that maybe their parents had a baby together, and that is why they both seem to have disappeared during their Senior Year. Together, the two teens drive to Tennessee, where Kari's mom had moved, to find out more. When they find out that her mom had to move just because of people feeling hatred towards their mixed race relationship, Kari and Shawna realize how much they have to share. When a similar relationship breaks out at their school, everyone realizes how much black and white relationships have to go through. Kari and Shawna now share a friendship understanding this. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels they have been treated unfairly due to their race. They would see they weren't alone and it happens to others. You can learn a lot by reading this book and learn about different types of friendships and relationships.

I would recommend this book because it teaches you a lesson. The lesson learned is that no matter what race you are, or what your skin color is, you can be friends. Also, another lesson learned, and probably a more valuable lesson, is make sure you know everything there is to know about something, before you act. Kari and Shawna ended up being very disappointed about not having a brother or sister, because they didn't find out the whole truth. This book would most likely appeal to girls, and I sure did enjoy this book!

I would recommend this book because it teaches you a lesson. The lesson learned is that no matter what race you are, or what your skin color is, you can be friends. Also, another lesson learned, and probably a more valuable lesson, is make sure you know everything there is to know about something, before you act. Kari and Shawna ended up being very disappointed about not having a brother or sister, because they didn't find out the whole truth. This book would most likely appeal to girls, and I sure did enjoy this book!

That's because it is very much like one. Overly sentimental and you can predict pretty much what is going to happen throughout the book in the end too. It was good how it delt with old traditions and racism, but it was a bit too much on the weak side.

The story, Lives of our own, written by Lorri Hewett is about an African American girl, whose parents recently got divorced and she chose to move with her dad; back into her grandma's house. Her new school is different and extremly unique in many ways. She meets this one student, who stands out from the rest. However, she's white. And their school is very racist. Will teh African America become friends with the white girl, and what would everyone say? Read the book to find out.

At some point I really found myself engrossed in "Lives of our own." The story focused heavily on Shawna and her attempt to change a racist school and their traditional Old South Ball, where white teenagers are master over the black teenagers who had to be slaves (Civil war time-line I believe). I really cannot relate to Shawna with her struggle, but I surely can commend the character in what she was doing, even when everyone was against her and she doubted herself. I cannot say that I enjoyed the non-subtle attempt that the author was trying to pull of in this story with racism. Not to mention the fact that the story seemed to focus more the weakest character in the story, Kari, (a prep girl who is a member of the Etoile Club) instead of the main character of the story, Shawna. When the two somehow, form a relationship upon speculating that Kari's white mother and Shawna's black father had an affair, thus explaining why Kari's mother was sent away someplace when she was younger. The story starts get interesting, but stumbles on its feet when it reaches its climax. But by far the worst part of the story has to be the fact that Hewett only hinted at racism within the halls of the school and never really not into it. The reaction of white teenager's objections to a black teen and a white teen having a "romantic" relationship with each other (the article Shawna rote, as well as her best friend's girlfriend's point of view on the redundancy of the Old South Bal), really just felt watered down. The author never dives any deeper than a person wadding in shallow waters. If there was one POV, I could favor it, it was Shawna's. I really couldn't get into Kari's personality or POV on the entire situation; It was like reading something I've read before. All in all I enjoyed "Lives of our own", I just wish it could've been better in terms of storylines, the focus on the subject at hand and characters themselves. [a 3 out of 5]

Its about a girl african american girl named Shawna who has just moved from denver to this smal town where everyone is all about this dance called "The old south ball" to her it seems like thats all they talk about, So when Shawna writes a article in the school news paper about what she thinks of the "old south ball" this is when conflicts start. When shawna is in her living room on the floor watching T.V. a small object comes blasting threw the window it turns out the rock had broken her window. When Shawna tries to see who did it the first person she could think of was Kari.Around the end of the book Shawna starts to find out why Kari had done this.

I liked this book because it was a good book it showed two different sides of opinons and i liked that. It shows that just because your used to certein things doenst mean they can be changed and be just as good.

Lives of Our Own
Kid Review

This is an amazing book. It is very descriptive and has a lot of suspense. It shows the reader many important lessons, including "don't judge a book by its cover." Lives of Our Own is a must-read.
This story is about two girls (Shawna and Kari) and their parents. Shawna is a black girl who decided to go with her dad after her parents divorced. She has a strong personality and always speaks her mind. Kari, on the other hand, is shy, white, and one of the popular (in-crowd) people in her high school. Both girls are classmates, and so were their parents.
Life is turned upside down when suspicions grow about their parent's relationship. Was it more than just friendship? Did something happen? This book is stuffed with cliffhangers and a very wide range of emotions. I give it 9 out of 10.

Lives of our Own, by Lori Hewett, begins when Shawna, a black girl from Denver, finds that a popular girl from her high school, Kari Lang, threw a rock through her window because of an editorial she wrote about the Old South Ball, a Gone With the Wind themed dance for the white kids at school. For a while after that, Kari and Shawna ignore each other, but when Kari and Shawna find out that Kari's mother and Shawna's father knew each other in high school, they form a bond. One day, Kari is looking through old yearbooks, and she finds that neither her mother nor Shawna's father were at the high school their senior year, she knows that something is up. To find out what happens, read this book. I truly loved this book because you could fell the bonds of friendship forming, the friendship being tested, and how discrimination hurts everyone. It had a lot of twists and turns, and almost nothing is what it seems at first. Overall, the book was very good. If there were a sequel to this book, I would definitely buy it.

This tale of conflict lying between blacks and whites is told form the point of view from two girls: Shawna and Kari. Shawna, editor of the newspaper, moves to this small Georgian town after her parents divorced shortly before. Shawna comes from a wealthy African-American family and becomes the envy of Kari, a small town girl with little knowledge of the outside world.

The beginning chapter of the book starts with a rock flying through a window, thus setting Shawna and Kari on a collision course with one another. While these two teenage girls might think they have nothing in common, they soon learn differently. Once arriving at her new school, Shawna realizes that this town that her father grew up in is not like her hometown in Colorado. Here blacks and whites still do not see each other as equal. While there are no set rules dividing them, they still do not socialize or concern themselves with each other's business. When Shawna's friend wants his relationship with a white girl recognized, a whole new set of obstacles arises.

At the same time, Kari's world becomes so intertwined with Shawna's after a recent discovery that she finds it hard to choose between the life she knew and the new life that Shawna shows her.

This story is well written and keeps the reader in suspense. Even though the general public believes that racism died in the 1960s, this book suggest otherwise. What happens when two girls are thrown at each other with all their differences exposed on the surface, while, much to their dismay, underneath they learn they hold strikingly similar pasts.