Witness

Witness

by: Karen Hesse

Scholastic Paperbacks, 2003

Witness is a book in poems about a town in Vermont dealing with racism. Leanora Sutter and her father are new to the town and also the only African American's in the book. Leanora has a hard time adjusting to the town while faced with persecution from the Ku Klux Klan. Esther Hirsh is a 6 year old Jewish girl who faces her own share of persecution and seems to be the only one to like Leanora. Viola disagrees with her husband Harvey's idea to join the Klan, saying it will bring him more money. Read about Johnny Reeves, the Pastor, Precelle Johnson the town Constable, Iris Weaver, the Rum Runner, and Sara Chickering, the one who cares for Esther through beautiful poetry that puts you back in time and in the shoes of various townspeople.

Personal Review: I really liked this book. This book is really sad and at times touching. It was very interesting to read a book written in poems. Each poem is from the perspective of a different character. You can even see how the characters change as you read the poems. This book taught me a lot about the history of that time period and the extreme racism that existed during that time. Warning: This book does contain violence and descriptions of disturbing images.

168 pages

Poetry

Ages: 9-12