Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Good Negress

The Good Negress
A.J. Verdelle
ISBN 0060976837

In the early 1960s, 12-year-old Denise Palms, who has been living with her maternal grandmother in rural Virginia for five years, is summoned home to Detroit to care for her expectant mother, Margarete, new stepfather and adored older brothers. Neesey knows little of the world beyond Granma'am's country life but is excited to rejoin her two siblings who, in her absence, have become very different from each other: David is reliable and implacable, but unfocused Luke edward constantly courts trouble. At the local public school, Denise's intellectual promise catches the attention of Gloria Pearson, an idealistic young teacher, who works tirelessly to perfect Denise's backwater English and thereby raise her pupil's expectations for her future. Denise thrives under Gloria's tutelage, but conflict arises when her family's needs and her mentor's desires clash. At the same time, Luke edward's life slowly begins to spiral out of control when he gets caught stealing. Denise must become the fulcrum of her family's problems as she attempts to define her own identity.

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