Francie

Karen English

Dec 2007 · Sold by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

About this ebook

A distinctive new voice in children's fiction

Francie lives with her mother and younger brother, Prez, in rural Alabama, where all three work and wait. Francie's father is trying to get settled in Chicago so he can move his family up North.

Unfortunately, he's made promises he hasn't kept, and Francie painfully learns that her dreams of starting junior high school in an integrated urban classroom will go unfulfilled. Amid the day-to-day grind of working odd jobs for wealthy white folks on the other side of town, Francie becomes involved in helping a framed young black man to escape arrest -- a brave gesture, but one that puts the entire black community in danger. In this vivid portrait of a girl in the pre--Civil Rights era South, first-time novelist Karen English completes Francie's world using lively vernacular and a wide array of flesh-and-blood characters.

Francie is a 2000 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book.

Ratings and reviews

Loved the way Mrs. English brings you in to rural Alabama and leaves bits and crumbs of reminders of a pre civil rights south. Francie is a terrific character that questions everything, is sharp, and stands firm for what she believes in. While standing up for a friend in desperate need, Francie finds herself in the cross hairs of racist whites of the worst flavor - those unwilling to make room for the possibility that they are wrong.

This is a good book because it shows that black people did not have it so easy back then. They had to do everyone's work and get paid little. If you are recommending this book to read I recommend that you do read it to look back in the pass and see what it was like. BUYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About the author

Karen English has written several picture books and Strawberry Moon, her second novel. She lives in Richmond, California.