Songs Of Faith [Hardcover]

Angela Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998 | Age Level: 8 and up

Living in a small town in Ohio in 1975 and desperately missing her divorced father, thirteen-year-old Doreen comes to terms with disturbing changes in her family life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Johnson's (Humming Whispers) absorbing character study, the country prepares the bicentennial celebration of Independence Day while 13-year-old Doreen and her younger brother Robert start a new chapter in their lives without their father. The finalization of their parents' divorce sharpens Doreen's sense that nearly everyone else is moving forward while she "stays put" in Harvey, Ohio, a place "far out of everything and everybody." With the closing of the steel mill, the town's population is shifting ("Mama Dot says Harvey's becoming a place full of just-divorced women and their kids"). Through Doreen's narrative, which is infused with remarkable insight and exceptional tenderness, Johnson crystallizes the pain of being left behind. Although her sparse narrative gives only a sketchy depiction of the heroine's father, readers will feel the impact of his absence on his children and wife. The relationships between the protagonist and the other characters here generally are not as fully fleshed out as in Johnson's previous novels. However, Doreen's straightforward opinions ("We're as divorced as she [her mother] is") and poignant observations ("I will look at Robert and know I'll never figure out people's hearts") ring true. A quiet, heart-wrenching read. Ages 9-13.-- is") and poignant observations ("I will look at Robert and know I'll never figure out people's hearts") ring true. A quiet, heart-wrenching read. Ages 9-13.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8?A deftly detailed novel set in 1976. Johnson uses the particulars of the months after Doreen and Robert's father moves to Chicago and Doreen's best friend moves away to illuminate the universal experience of coping with loss. At the same time, a new girl, Jolette, moves into the neighborhood with her stepmother and too-quiet younger brothers. The sad setting, a neighborhood just outside the projects in a decaying Ohio town where the mills are closed and the trash-filled river smells, mirrors the depression of the characters: troubled children, recently divorced women, and men emotionally scarred from their service in Vietnam. The children fight their losses. Doreen, 13, decorates celebratory Bicentennial signs with yellow smiling faces and fuchsia full moons; Robert and Jolette make deals with themselves?he stops talking, she attempts to jump rope one million times. Their mothers cope. Mama Dot has gone back to Ohio State University; Miss Mary joins the church and finds a job in the church restaurant. Through explicit weather imagery, the author makes her message clear; difficult and disturbing as the time is, it is a storm that will pass. Once again Johnson has set attractive and realistic African-American characters in situations in which race is not the focus. This short, sensitive book will appeal most to reflective readers.?Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic; F edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531300234
• ISBN-13: 978-0531300237
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,920,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Angela Johnson is the author of the Coretta Scott King Honor picture book When I Am Old with You; as well as A Sweet Smell of Roses, illustrated by Eric Velasquez; Just Like Josh Gibson, illustrated by Beth Peck; and I Dream of Trains, which was also illustrated by Loren Long. She has won three Coretta Scott King Awards, one each for her novels Heaven, Toning the Sweep, and The First Part Last. In recognition of her outstanding talent, Angela was named a 2003 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Kent, Ohio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars "Songs of Faith" by Angela Johnson, November 6, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Songs of Faith (Paperback)

This is a very good book i enjoyed it a lot I enjoyed how it was more dialogue than narration so the charachters were telling the story

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Growing up with loss, June 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Songs Of Faith (Hardcover)

This is such a tender story. At first it seems that the young people in it are pretty settled and happy with life. The father has moved away, but they still have loving adults and good friends. By the end of the book, the full sorrow of their losses are exposed as well as their bravery in facing that which they cannot change. Through pictures of these lives, the reader is given a glimpse of the depths of feeling that can lurk underneath the surface of a normal and carefree-looking child.