How High The Moon
Karyn Parsons
Subjects
- History Time - blasts from the past
- Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Average rating
Boston was nothing like South Carolina. Up there, colored folks could go anywhere they wanted. Folks didn’t wait for church to dress in their fancy clothes. Fancy was just life. Mama was a city girl . . . and now I was going to be one too.
It’s 1944, and in a small, Southern, segregated town, eleven-year-old Ella spends her summers running wild with her cousins and friends.
But life isn’t always so sunny.
The deep racial tension that simmers beneath their town’s peaceful facade never quite goes away, and Ella misses her mama – a beautiful jazz singer, who lives in Boston.
So when an invitation arrives to come to Boston for a visit Ella is ecstatic – and the trip proves life-changing in more ways than one. For the first time, Ella sees what life outside of segregation is like, and begins to dream of a very different future.
But her happiness is shattered when she returns home to the news that her classmate has been arrested for the murder of two white girls – and nothing will ever be the same again.
A beautifully written and deeply moving story about finding and fighting for your place in the world.Reviews
Ella often wonders who her dad is. Was he a good man? Why did he leave? She lives with her Grandparents and cousins in an area where racial segregation is prevalent. When invited to Boston to stay with her Mamma she jumps at the chance to answer her questions and begins to see a society with racial equality. However, upon leaving Boston with many questions, Ella hears news of a boy she knew, George Stinney, being charged with the murder of two white girls. After George is declared guilty and put on the electric chair Ella must recover and remember that whatever she looks like, whoever her dad she is, she is equal and valued for who she is.
General Angel Dalmatian 05.09.2023
Absolutely amazing
Mademoiselle Blossom Mittens 02.08.2023
I discovered this story whilst researching texts for the school library which had BAME main characters. The setting is South Carolina during the 1940's. A time when racial discrimination and segregation were common place. The main characters are Ella, Myrna, Henry and George. The story is fictional however the character of George is based on George Stinney Jr. who was accused of murdering two white girls in 1944. He was only 14 and black. He was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death by electric chair after only a short trial. He was one of the youngest people to be exucted in this way. Seventy years later, after much campaining by family, there was a retrial and George was subsequently exonerated, the original trial was declared unfair. Ella, Myrna and Henry were his friends and went to the same school. The story is about their lives and how they coped with segregation whilst trying to be children and having fun. I liked Ella the best as she was fiesty and always stood up for herself she would defend Henry from bullies. After reading the book I was inspired to research more about George Stinney Jr. and uncovered additional information about his heartwrenching story. I would recommend the book for upper KS2.
Anonymous 12.07.2021
