Customer Reviews

White Lilacs

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Being the person I am, it is not easy to make me cry. I am just naturally happy. It gets especially hard when it's a book. They always just seem unreal as they are. This book however (based on a true story) is so well written and is about something so sad that I was crying my eyes out at the end of the book. I won't tell you why the end was so sad (read it!!!). It's written from the point of view of an older Rosa Lee Williams looking back from adulthood. It's written beautifully with great compasion. One of the great parts about the books is that it makes clear that not all white people are unfeeling and prejudice and that they are taught to be that way from the time they are born. This is showed by the character Miss Emily Firth, Rosa Lee's older, white, lady friend, who just moved to Dillion from the North and offers to give Rosa Lee free art lessons. Rosa Lee William is a great heroine and appears in a great book about the prejudice south at the turn of the century. It well worth the money you pay and the time you spend reading it.

White Lilacs is a very good book . It is about a girl that is made to get out of her home along with other blacks by the rich persons of Dillon .They want to make the homes of the blacks into a park .This was a true story . It is a very good book and I hope you read it .

In 1921 some of the white folks decide to move the "coloreds" out of the middle of Freedomtown because it is in the middle of Dillon, all the coloreds must take action. The only reason they are making the coloreds move is because they don't want them right smack in the middle of Dillon and they want a park built in Freedomtown. The whites decide to take a vote the day after July 4th about whether they should keep the coloreds in Freedomtown or move them, and Rose Lee finds herself in a mess, she must be a food server to the Bells because her cousin Cora has fallen ill and she also finds herself a spy, giving any information that she hears about Freedomtown to the colored men of Dillon. Rose Lee also finds herself getting Henry out of two sticky situations and helping out an old friend, Catherine Jane. Soon Rose Lee has to answer these questions to herself, will she ever see her friends again? If the families of Freedomtown are kicked out of Freedomtown where will they move? Also, will she be able to find a way to save Henry's life?

The characters were so realistic and I think that the author did a good job of describing places and things and people. But I think that Henry is so mean. I think that this book wasn't boring so anyone who does, i don't agree. Why does this book even be considered boring? I think it is very cool. I wish I could tell Carolyn Meyer that. I like meeting authors face to face. Teacher's like this book also, because it receieved a teacher's choice award in 1991.

I read the book "White Lilacs" for a school project, and to me the book was kind of boring except with one or two parts that made me not want to put the book down. I would recommend this book for older adelescents and not for young elementary school children. The book's comprehention was quite difficult at some parts, and unless you really get into the book it may be hard to understand. Finally, honestly the book just basically bored me, but that's just my opinion, and all of you reading this right now may have a different opinion, so if you just want to find a book that you are not expecting to be filled with action and violence, then you may like to try and take a look at this book.

I really enjoyed this book! It was well written and gave you a good sense of what the black community had to endure. It showed that even though the black people were freed from slavery, there life was far from being equal. Sometimes it was hard to believe just how awful the white people could be. I really felt for Rose Lee throughout the book. She had to go through so much when she is only a young girl. She shouldn't have to deal with so much racisim. If you want a good historical read, this is a great book!

This was a great book. It was not that hard to get into and was very interesting. When I read it I learened a lot of things I never knew before, about those times. It was not the best book I have ever read but it wasn't the worst either. Hope you enjoy:)