This Strange New Feeling [Paperback]

Julius Lester (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1985

No Description Available

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks (June 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590329243
• ISBN-13: 978-0590329248
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,851,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in 1939, Julius Lester spent his youth in the Midwest and the South and received a B.A. in English from Fisk University in 1960.Since 1968 he has published 25 books of fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and poetry. Among the awards these books have received are the Newbery Honor Medal, American Library Association Notable Book, National Jewish Book Award Finalist, The New York Times Outstanding Book, National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Caldecott Honor Book, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and a National Book Award Finalist. His books have been translated into eight languages.He has published more than one hundred essays and reviews in such publications The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Op-Ed Page, The Boston Globe, The Village Voice, The New Republic, Katallagete, Moment, Forward, and Dissent.He has recorded two albums of original songs, hosted and produced a radio show on WBAI-FM in New York City for eight years, and hosted a live television show on WNET in New York for two years. A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, his photographs of that movement are included in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution and are part of the permanent photographic collection at Howard University.After teaching at the New School for Social Research for two years, Mr. Lester joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts/Amherst in 1971 where he is presently a full professor in the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Department, and adjunct professor in the English and History departments. He also serves as lay religious leader of Beth El Synagogue in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.He has been awarded all four of the university's most prestigious faculty awards: The Distinguished Teacher's Award; the Faculty Fellowship Award for Distinguished Research and Scholarship; Distinguished Faculty Lecturer; and recipient of the Chancellor's Medal, the University's highest honor. In 1986 the Council for Advancement and Support of Education selected him as the Massachusetts State Professor of the Year.Mr. Lester's biography has appeared in Who's Who In America since 1970. He has given lectures and papers at more than 100 colleges and universities.His most recent books are John Henry, And All Our Wounds Forgiven, a novel about the civil rights movement, and Othello, a novel based on the Shakespeare play.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Strange New Feeling, May 23, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: This Strange New Feeling (Paperback)

This is an excellent book about the joys and sorrows of slavery. The book has three wonderful stories in it which each story tells about the love of slaves for one another. If you love reading about the past, love, and slavery this is a great book you should read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Strange New Feeling, January 29, 2008

By 

Anna M. Ligtenberg "AnnaLovesBooks" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: This Strange New Feeling (Mass Market Paperback)

ISBN 059041061x - I think the idea of touting this book as "love stories" does it a dis-service, because I don't think the young adult audience is going to be as interested in something they think is a love story; it is also a tad misleading, in my opinion because I think the stories are much more - and much less - than love stories.

In the first story, Ras is tempted to freedom by a man named Jakes, a hired carpenter that he works with to build a shed. Jakes can't resist trying to excite Ras's interest by talking about things the slave could have, if he was free. Helped to run away by his Uncle Isaac and a white man by the name of Thomas McMahon, Ras heads for Calais, the town that Jakes had told him about, only to be caught - because Jakes turned him in! Returned home, Ras tells the other slaves how terrible it was in the North, to avert the whipping he'd otherwise get. Then he and Sally, the woman he loves, help others to flee, until the night they are almost caught and are forced to take their master's life to save their own.

The story of Uncle Issac's children and the terrible choice his wife made to insure no child of hers would ever be a slave took this story out of the realm of mushy love story and into that of heartbreaking, haunting true story - and it sets the tone for the two to come.

In the second story, young Maria falls for Forrest Yates, a free black man. When her mistress dies, her master sells her - to Forrest! Not free to marry, they live together as a couple until Forrest is killed in an accident and Maria is faced with a horrifying choice: lose her dignity or her freedom.

This story rings the least true of the three. Maria's master stops his wife from beating her, treats all the slaves well, sees to it that she is sold to a man who loves her and, even though it's somewhat offensive, his subtle hint that she could take on the role of his mistress is told tactfully. All of this adds up to a man who is not particularly in favor of slavery and a relatively kind owner (which seems like an impossible thing, but you have to remember the times they lived in). His sudden, harsh and heartless about-face at the end of the story makes no sense whatsoever and has the feel of fabrication more than any other part of the book.

The last story is that of William and Ellen Craft, who run away to Philadelphia, then Boston and eventually England, becoming celebrities along the way. Posing as an injured young man and his slave, the pair have several near misses before they find freedom. That freedom nearly comes to an end as two well-known slave hunters come to Boston to find them. When the President vows to send the military to enforce the newly passed Fugitive Slave Bill, the Crafts are helped to hide and, eventually, to run by Reverend Theodore Parker, Lewis Hayden and many others.

Saving the best for last, Lester finally tells a story that will capture your imagination and have you wondering what next, worrying for the Crafts and applauding the people of Boston. This is a story worthy of much more than a short telling in a book for teens, and it's been told several times by other authors, including William Craft himself, but Lester's telling is a superb introduction for young readers.

More than anything, the stories are of strength and courage, and of the horrors and pains of life as a piece of property. That anyone at all emerges from that life with a scrap of dignity is as astounding now as it was then. Hopefully, reading this will lead to a more in-depth interest in the stories. Love stories? Maybe a little, but don't let that stop you!

- AnnaLovesBooks

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book, May 24, 2001

By 

Cyerra (lowa USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Strange New Feeling (Paperback)

This strange new feeling is my favorite book because I like it when you can read something and not only have fun but you still learn something from the passed.Every time I read this book I never wanted to stop reading.That's how good I think this book is.This book is about three stories in slavery,and how the slaves was in love, and how they got through slavery.