This was a thought provoking book about the times of segregation. It was a bit emotional and I wouldn't recommend it for a sensitive child.

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Plot Summary

In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers, and Turner's, want to change into a tourist spot

Critical Analysis

Its 1912 and 13 year old Turner Buckminster and his family have just moved to Phippsburg, Maine from Boston where Turners father in the new minister of the First Congregational Church. Turner has a hard time fitting in. Everything is different, they even play baseball differently in Maine. Then one day Turner meets Lizzie, an African-American girl from nearby Malaga Island. Lizzie teaches him how to play Maine style baseball, how to harvest clams, and takes him out in her boat to watch the whales. Everything changes when the town elders plan to boost the towns economy with tourism and decide that the African-American community of former slaves on Malaga Island needs to be removed. Through a series of tragic events we witness the growth of Turner from the miserable boy who first arrived into a thoughtful, compassionate young man.

This novel is based on the true story of the removal of the residents of Malaga Island and Schmidt does a good job building credible characters that touch the readers emotions. It is a tragic story of greed and power. There is no happily-ever-after, but I believe readers will connect with the honesty of the characters and story.

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I find this a very interesting read in which Lizzie saves many.

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Reviewed by Mechele R. Dillard for TeensReadToo.com

Thirteen-year-old Turner Buckminster III is not happy. He has moved with his parents from Boston to Phippsburg, Maine, and everything that can be wrong is: The local kids play slow-pitch baseball, his stiff white shirts label him "the minister's kid," and his mother isn't kidding when she hands him the Sears, Roebuck catalog and points to the little building out behind the parsonage. And when Turner begins to question the choices that residents of the town--and his father--are making regarding the future of the inhabitants of nearby Malaga Island, Turner begins to fear that what he heard before leaving Boston may have been the truth: "Folks in Maine spoke a whole different language and didn't care for those who couldn't speak it themselves" (p. 2).

Schmidt sets this story in 1912, basing it on events which occurred in the Phippsburg/Malaga Island area on the coast of Maine. It starts a little slow, but readers who hang in through the first three chapters will find that he doesn't shy away from emotionally-charged issues such as racism, greed, and social posturing. However, Schmidt's focus is ultimately on the wisdom gained not only by young Turner, but by a surprising number of characters most readers will write off as "hopeless" early in the novel.

John Newbery Medal Honor Book, 2005

Michael L. Printz Honor Book, 2005

The Lupine Award Honor Book, 2004

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