If You Come Softly (1998)

Predictable and cliche. ( )

Two 15 year olds, Jeremiah (Miah) who is black, and Elisha (Ellie) who is white, meet during their first year at an exclusive New York prep school and fall in love. Both teens are also dealing with difficult family situations. Miah's father has left his mother for another woman, and Ellie is trying to fight through her feelings about her mother, who twice abandoned her family for extended periods. The teenagers must also deal with the subtle and not-so-subtle bigotry that they are subject to as a mixed-race couple. Miah and Ellie go about working through their problems, both individually and together, and their relationship continues to blossom, giving readers a shared sense of contentment. ( )

Ellie is the youngest child in a Jewish family, whose mother has abandoned her twice. Jeramiah is the only son of a famous director and a novelist, who have separated. Both feel out of place in life, until they meet each other. But is the world ready to accept their love? This is a very sweet story about an interracial high school couple, but I felt that it could have been more developed. ( )

A fictional tragic love story is told when 15 year old kids, Ellie and Jeremiah have to overcome the racial differences between them. Ellie is a white, Jewish girl whose mother abandoned her twice but returns, though Ellie knows “she can never trust her 100 percent ever again.” Jeremiah is an African American boy who comes from a famous and divorced family, his dad being a movie producer and his mother being a writer. Ellie and Jeremiah encounter on their first day at their new prep school when they literally bump into each other. From the second they lock eyes they fall in love with each other. The fact that Jeremiah is black and Ellie is white doesn’t change the fact that they love each other; their true love comes from within. The story is moving and emotional as Ellie and Jeremiah overcome “disapproving glances from all around”, whispering voices, unsupportive family members, and rude remarks. The writing is both simple and moving as the story transitions between the lives of both kids and how they look at the brighter side of their misunderstood lives. Jacqueline keeps the reader on the edge of their seat right up in till the last page as she adds in an unexpected twist in the story.
Jeremiah and Ellie both are attending the first year at a private prep school. They first encounter when Jeremiah accidently knocks Ellie’s books down out of her hands. While scrambling to pick them up, their eyes meet and they instantly fall in love; they know they were destined to meet. From that day on, they couldn’t stop thinking about each other and they knew they had to meet again. The only problem was Ellie is a white Jewish girl, and Jeremiah is black. Jeremiah had to deal with his parents getting a divorce and the constant reminder of his grandmother’s death everywhere he looked, he felt no one could understand him. Ellie had felt the same way ever since her mother had left the family twice but later returned thinking everything could go back to normal. After searching for a while Ellie came to the conclusion that she would never see Jeremiah again considering she had only seen him that one time when they bumped into each other. One day after Ellie has lost hope, Jeremiah transferred into her class and sat next to her. The two finally started seeing each other on a regular basis and decided to go out with each other though many people would disagree that a white girl shouldn’t date a black boy. As they grew closer, they were determined to block out all the disapproval from others. Jeremiah decided that it was time Ellie met his mom and soon after Ellie realized it was time she tell her family she was dating Jeremiah. When Ellie decided to tell her parents, it was too late... -A.M

Book Review Template

Author last name, first name. Title. Year. Publisher: City.

Genre:

Themes 7th and 8th grades

Awards:

Censorship Issues No censorships issues with this book.]

Plot Summary: Elisha is a white young girl going to a prep school when she falls in love with Jeremiah. Jeremiah is half black with a black father and a white mother. The two fall in love. Elisha is scared to tell her parents about her love interest. The two face looks and comments when they are seen together. Jeremiah is later killed in a white neighborhood. And Elisha is still coming to grips with his death.

Your critique This is a good but but I thought it was short and it never describes how Jerimiah is killed. Readers can relate to their multicultural relationship and why Elisha is afraid to tell her parents about them.

Currichaulum Uses Public library or public schools to teach multicultural relations ships and what both the characters experience in racism.