civil rights

Told from the point-of-view of 10-year-old Kenny, it's really his big brother Byron who's the hero of this funny, emotional sucker-punch of a novel. Byron, thirteen, is a juvenile delinquent--a black sheep--according to Kenny, and pretty much everyone else in the so-called "Weird Watsons" family. But in the end it's Kenny who helps Byron overcome his depression over witnessing tragic events during a trip to visit their grandmother in Birmingham, Alabama during the height of the struggle for Civil Rights. 

I came *this* close to giving up on the book after reading chapter five, which is way

I have read the book (previously reviewed/blogged 1/26/10) and listened to the cd audio version of The Help and recommend both versions. The audio version gives the reader an enhanced reading/ listening experience. “In pitch-perfect voices” the story is told by four well cast actors rather than the usual one actor per cd audio book. Each chapter is told in the voice of Miss Skeeter, Minnie, or Abilene. Abilene is the sweet natured diplomat, while Minnie is the outspoken comedian of the three. Through these voices the listener is reminded of a time when African American maids were the

I never stay up until 12 or 1 a.m. reading, but I couldn't put this book down. Set in the mid sixties during the Civil Rights struggle, the story centers on a group of black maids and their white employers in Jackson, Mississippi. In her search for a job as a writer, recent college graduate Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan is told by an editor at Harper & Row in New York City that she needs to write about something that she's passionate about. Unemployed (except for writing the Miss Myrna housekeeping tips column) and living with her parents, Skeeter befriends, interviews and writes about the lives of