An unflinching and heartfelt story about racism and finding the strength to stand up for what's right. Set in the Deep South in the 1960s, Yankee Girl still has strong resonances today. An unflinching and heartfelt story about racism and finding the strength to stand up for what's right. Set in the Deep South in the 1960s, Yankee Girl still has strong resonances today. Synopsis It's 1964 and Alice Anne Moxley has moved to Mississippi from Chicago with her family. The `Yankee Girl' is taunted by the other girls at school, although she soon discovers the other new girl - the school's first black student - suffers much worse. Alice is disturbed by what goes on, but knows she will remain an outsider if she defends Valerie. It takes a tragedy for her to realise what is really important and find the courage to act. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

In this impressive debut novel set in 1964, Rodman infuses the familiar struggle of the new girl in town with immediacy, danger and historical relevance. Alice Ann Moxley, daughter of an FBI agent, moves from Chicago to Mississippi right before sixth grade begins and just as her new school receives its first "colored" students. As she takes in the local customs (seventh graders wear lipstick, the ladies all have maids because "nigras work for nothing"), Alice yearns to fit in with the popular and powerful cheerleading crowd, but they ignore her except to brand her Yankee Girl. She briefly and unsuccessfully attempts to befriend the lone black student, Valerie Jackson, who braves the initial crowds of jeering adults and seemingly ignores the cheerleaders' constant taunts and increasingly nasty pranks. The girl bullying theme may be universal, but what makes this novel stand out are the compelling threads in Alice's outsider's insights on the Southern milieu, her friendship with the boy next door, the institutionalized racism (a glamorous teacher disinfects her desk after Valerie touches it; a shop clerk won't allow a black customer to try on a dress), and Alice's fears as the KKK stakes out their house. Despite one or two unnecessarily neat plot twists, Rodman shows characters grappling with hard choices, sometimes courageously, sometimes willfully, sometimes inconsistently, but invariably believably. Whether or not readers are familiar with civil rights, they are likely to find this novel memorable because it so strikingly identifies the bravery, cruelty and vulnerability of characters their own age. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 4-8-Alice Ann Moxley's father works for the FBI and has been transferred from Chicago to Jackson, MS, in 1964 to protect civil rights workers and individuals registering to vote. Taken aback by everything from Southern accents to the way black people are treated, Alice finds it very hard to adjust and nearly impossible to make friends. She's quickly branded "Yankee Girl," and the one friend she finds, the boy next door, abandons her when school starts-late this year, due to fear of integration. Alice's school is indeed being integrated, by two daughters of an important ally of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Valerie Taylor is in Alice's sixth-grade class, and although they are both outsiders, Alice is torn between trying to befriend her and trying to fit in with the popular girls. As the civil rights movement heats up, the Ku Klux Klan begins to focus on Alice's family. It takes until spring for her to sort out her inner conflicts, and by then tragedy has occurred and her reality has been shattered. Chapters begin with dated headlines that build a framework for the story. Some of the language is troubling, but it's also appropriate and adds to the increasing tension. Constant references to the Beatles embellish the '60s flavor, and the dialogue and narrative flow naturally. In an author's note, Rodman reveals that she lived this story 40 years ago, and readers who make it past the dull cover art will live it as well.-Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 4-8. Based on the author's experience as a white child of an FBI agent who was sent toackson, Mississippi, in 1964 to support the fight for civil rights, this first novel brings the terrifying racism close-up: the name-calling (including the n-word), the cruel segregation, thelan violence. Alice (Yankee Girl ) Moxley, the new girl in school, is desperate to be accepted, but she knows how much worse it is for her classmate Valerie, the only black student. Introducing each chapter, newspaper headlines chart the political struggle, but the honesty of Alice's narrative moves this beyond docu-novel. She's much more concerned with the Beatles and clothes than with politics--but the racism is always there. She admires a classmate who challenges the in-crowd, but Alice is not a noble freedom fighter; she likes Valerie and talks to her, but only when no one else is around. The real tension is whether Alice can move from being bystander to standing up for what she believes. Rodman shows how hard it is. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2004 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.