White Lilacs [Paperback]

Carolyn Meyer (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

Rose Lee Jefferson overhears the ladies of the garden club discussing the city’s plans to level Dillon’s black community, Freedomtown, to build a park for the city’s white residents. The plan is carried out, and nothing remains of Freedomtown but the memories of its former residents and a series of drawings that Rose Lee makes to celebrate the community. “Meyer’s moving account is as much a documentary as a novel, with a vividly realized setting and a good array of characters to dramatize issues.”--Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Based, as the author explains in an endnote, on an event that took place in 1921-22, this somber, moving story focuses on prejudice, injustice and everyday bravery. When the city council of Dillon, Tex., unveils its plans to raze Freedomtown--an all-black enclave in the town's center--and replace it with a park, the proposal unleashes a tumult of rage and defiance in the black community. The Freedomtowners' indignation dwindles down to a trickle of unrest and, eventually, resignation after a Klan cross-burning, the destruction of the local school and several other frightening, dispiriting events. As seen through the eyes of 12-year-old aspiring artist Rose Lee Jefferson, this struggle for equal rights quickly becomes a sorrowful march toward an inevitable eviction. Even Rose Lee's activist older brother--a World War I veteran and follower of Marcus Garvey--fails in his fight against Dillon's privileged class: he is tarred and feathered by local hooligans. Numerous historical details and snippets of then-current political thought are smoothly integrated into the story. Bleak though its conclusion is, this bittersweet novel is poignant and tender, both in its spare vernacular dialogue and delicate description. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7-In a small Texas town in the 1920s, 12-year-old Rose Lee Jefferson's favorite places are the gardens tended by her beloved grandfather. Granted "toting privileges" by his white employers, he has planted a profusion of colorful flowers around his home, so striking that Rose Lee calls the spot the Garden of Eden. Happily surrounded by her hard working, loving family, the girl is shocked when she overhears the casual plan to move her entire black community to the sewer flats, so that a park can be built in the middle of town. Reactions from her neighbors range from quiet resignation and prayer to calls for strikes and a return to Africa. Some whites respond with threats of violence. Rose Lee feels sad and confused, but undertakes a special mission. Perfectly evoking time and place, Meyer carefully layers detail upon detail, until readers nearly breathe the humid floral scents and hear the languid voices so carelessly spelling destruction for a whole way of life. The tone and pace are just right, and characterization is true and varied. Although readers can't help but identify with Rose Lee's first-person narration, the presentation (based on a real incident) is well balanced. Ultimately, this story is about relationships and the difficulties that can be endured when caring people come together. Thematically reminiscent of Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Dial, 1976), it could be read as a companion piece, but deserves attention in its own right. Thoughtful readers will hope for an encore.
Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper; 1 edition (October 31, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152958762
• ISBN-13: 978-0152958763
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,893,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My first book, MISS PATCH'S LEARN-TO-SEW BOOK, published more than forty years ago, was intended to teach young girls how to knot thread, make a neat stitch, and sew simple items. The main character of my next book, CLEOPATRA CONFESSES, coming in June 2011, is a far cry from the roundish, gray-haired lady with a needle in her hand and spectacles on her nose. Since the thrill of seeing that first book in print, I've written over fifty more books, non-fiction and novels (most recently, historical fiction). In the process I've learned more about writing and a lot about history, a subject that was not my favorite when I was a young student but has become my passion--a passion I love to share with readers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars White Lilacs- The forgotten parts of American History, March 29, 2001

By 

"susabeth99" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: White Lilacs (Paperback)

I am a college student, and I read White Lilacs for a class project. This book is a valuable supplement to any middle school curriculum because it thoroughly presents elements of history that social studies textbooks often overlook: namely, that of African-Americans. White Lilacs is very well written, and offers a poignant illustration of true events in the 1920s. It accurately portrays black church tradition, the experience of black soldiers in World War I, and the different attitudes blacks and whites had towards race in the 1920s. As I am personally very concerned with the issue of racial reconciliation, I find this book a valuable tool in helping both white and black people to understand from whence we have come, and what prevailing attitudes have caused race relations in the U.S. to develop as they have.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book!, April 23, 2002

By 

"gods_girl182" (Denton, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: White Lilacs (Paperback)

I loved this book. It told the facts, while also telling the story of a young girl. This book is showing Denton that we don't have to hide our past. It's better to get it out in the open. I read this as a class assignment, but I loved it. I truly recommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars White Lilacs, September 15, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: White Lilacs (Paperback)

In 1920's, Dillon Texas, Negroes worked like slaves, but the really were not. Rose Lee, a young girl not more then twelve years of age, lived with her mother, father, older brother, and two younger sisters, in their small house. Dillon is a very racist city. The Negroes had to stay in their own territory, which they liked to call Freedom, except for when they had to work. Rose Lee, along with her cousin, Cora, aunt, Tillie, and grandfather, Jim, worked at a white family's house, the Bell's. The Bell family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Bell, son, Edward, and daughter, Catherine Jane.

All seemed to be going well until a vote to change Freedom into a park changed the lives of these Negroes forever. People try to speak out to the public and try to get the public and try to get them to vote to let Freedom stay. The book includes the Ku Klux Klan, and they do some pretty mean things to the people of Freedom and their town. You will have to read the book to find out what happens.

I thought the book is definitely a book everyone should read. Carolyn Meyer teaches the people that read this book she wrote, about how some black people were treated many years ago, and how some may still be treated like this in some places of the world. The Ku Klux Klan is still in the world today, when they should not be. When you read this story, you feel poorly for the Negroes. The majority of the White people in this book do not care about the black people. Some of the characters, like Catherine Jane, are friendly to the Negroes.