Tree of Hope (Paperback)

~ (Author), Floyd Cooper (Illustrator) "Florrie's daddy and mama named her after the great actress Miss Florence Mills..." (more)
Key Phrases: Allnight Bakery

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As they did in Shakerag, a tale of Elvis Presley's Southern childhood, Littlesugar and Cooper join forces to vividly evoke the past. This time the subject is the rebirth of African-American theater in Harlem during the Great Depression. Young Florrie has often heard the stories of how her father found joy as an actor at the Lafayette Theatre in the 1920s, the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance. He even met Florrie's mother there. But with hard times, the theater has closed, and now its only sign of life is the twisted tree that grows beside it. Every day Florrie and her father wish on the "Tree of Hope" for the return of the Lafayette. The wish finally comes true when, sponsored by the Federal Theater Project, director Orson Welles mounts an African-American production of Macbeth. In her ambitious text, Littlesugar unobtrusively uses history to anchor the experiences of a particular fictional family. After a somewhat slow denouement, the elements of her story neatly come full circle. Cooper's luminous oil paintings, fine as ever, breathe life into both the gritty period cityscapes and the memorable characters, whose faces are alternately shaded by despair and lit by hope. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-A pivotal moment for the arts in America, and for one African-American family, is warmly re-created here. Florrie's father is acting bit parts at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem when the Great Depression hits, closing the theatres down. Then the child's parents are lucky to have work at all: cleaning work for Mama and frying donuts for Daddy, though he never stops dreaming of going back on the stage. He and lots of other out-of-work theatre people make wishes on the stubborn, twisted little "tree of hope" growing outside the Lafayette. When President Roosevelt orders the doors reopened, their wishes come true. The plays of Countee Cullen and Zora Neale Hurston are to be produced and Florrie's father is cast in Orson Welles's all-black production of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Cooper's oil-wash paintings evoke sepia-toned photographs and capture the emotions that make Littlesugar's characters vivid.
Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (December 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0698119037
• ISBN-13: 978-0698119031
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,266,382 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Tree of Hope Review, February 11, 2003

By	Christine (USA (Cincinnati, Ohio)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tree of Hope (Hardcover)

Tree of Hope is a book about a girl named Florrie who grew up during the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a time when a lot of people were poor and many people lost the jobs they had. In the story Florrie's father once was an actor at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, New York. Now that the Depression has hit Florrie's father is without a job because people don't have money to go see the shows. The only thing her father has to remember about the good times at the theatre is a tree. In the book it is called The Tree of Hope. Her father tells her about the tree and then they wish on it, they wished times went back to the way they were.

Then a director Orson Welles plans to do a play at the Lafayette. Florrie thinks this has happened because of her and her father's wish. The only thing about it is that the play is MacBeth; MacBeth is a play about white people. People who knew that Florrie's father was auditioning for the play would say, "Shakespeare's a white man, we oughta only be doin' written `bout us. Them people (the white director's) at the Lafayette've come to Harlem just to laugh at us!" This statement seemed to get to Florrie's father but he said, "There will be plays written about us. This is Harlem's MacBeth-you'll see." To find out what else happens you will have to read the book.