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Booktalk
#1
The story is based on true
events during the race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. Nobe Chase, who
is white, wants to live up to his name, Noble, but finds it hard. He has
an abusive father who dies, then he and his mother go to live and work
with a violent and mean sheriff who shoots Nobe's dog for no reason. He
is friendly with Isaac Mitchell and his mother, who are African Americans
and they help and support Nobe. He takes a job as a dishwasher at a cafe,
where he meets Lester Cotton, who hates whites and is Isaac’s father. The
hot summer winds on, with racial tensions everywhere. What kind of man
will Nobe grow up to be: courageous and noble, as he says he wants to be,
or filled with vengeance, hatred, and abuse, like so many of the people
around him? (Jean B. Bellavance for Pennsylvania
Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2004-2005)
Booktalk #2
The day he buried his Pa, Nobe
Chase lost everything--his father, his home, and his dog, Rex. Worst of
all, he had to move into town to live with Sheriff Leonard--dog killer,
wife stealer, and secret law-breaker of all sorts. That day, Nobe found
a new purpose for his life--revenge. Hate takes over his life, burning
inside him out of control. Nobe learns how dangerous hate can be when it
is unleashed in a fury of fire and gunpowder during a race riot in nearby
Tulsa. When the violence spills into his hometown of Wekiwa, Nobe must
decide what kind of man he is going to become--one driven by vengeance
or one driven by courage. Based on true events in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during
May of 1921, this is a novel about a young man who must wrestle with his
past and find the strength to pull free from the poisonous grip of hatred
and abuse. (Lisa L. Foster, South
Carolina Book Awards, 2006) |
