Title: If You Come Softly
Series: If You Come Softly (#1 in series of 2)
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Speak
Received: Swap site
Release Date: June 2006
Pages: 181
Rating:
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Shannon’s Thoughts:
Miah, a black boy, starting a new school runs into Ellie, a Jewish white girl. They feel connected and start a relationship. They keep their relationship a secret because they know their parents will not understand because of their different color. Their future seems bright and hopeful until one day someones bad judgment call ends the life of one of them.
I picked this up because of John Green’s new life’s library book club. I am not a big fan of contemporary novels but I do read them from time to time. The characters did grab me and I did fall for Ellie and Miah. I felt Ellie’s pain when she mentioned to her sister about dating someone of color and her sister was against it. Miah parents were not as tolerant on the subject of interracial coupling either. I feel there was a lot more pain in this book then the love Ellie and Miah shared and that made the ending sadder.
I disliked one thing about the book and that was that the very first chapter basically tells you how the book ends. Even though I loved the characters getting to know each other and their relationship with their own family there was still that little voice in the back my head saying, “Yeah but so and so is going to kick the bucket.”
I do think Woodson is a fine author. For a book that is 20 years old and still relevant is in some ways a good thing for an author but because of the theme it is very sad it is still something the world deals with daily.
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