T. R. Simon

Woven in simple yet intricate ways, this is a tale with impact and will stay with the reader long after the last page.

The author has set two stories next to each other and lets them weave back and forth. One concerns Zora and her best friend Carrie as they discover the town's mute can actually speak and try to discover the truth behind his hidden ability. The other takes places around 50 years before as Lucia, a slave girl, struggles to survive and maybe seek her own freedom. The stories show more flow in two different times, but each one is as grabbing as the other. While Zora and Carrie are a delight to accompany in their adventure and attempt to uncover the truth, Lucia's story pulls at the heart-strings. It's well crafted and draws in.

Each character is to love or to hate. While Zora is willful, full of spice and even humorous, Carrie sits more serious and makes a perfect counter weight. The two have a beautiful friendship, and it's impossible not to wish that both were real and the reader's best friends. Lucia, on the other side, hits the topic of slavery square on. Her life is harsh, and it's impossible not to feel for her and cheer for her even when she faces horrible odds. The other characters each win their own place, and the 'bad' ones definitely are begging to be disliked. It's a lovely cast with tons of heart.

While this is the second book in the series, it can be read as a stand alone (although after reading this, I am going to head back to the first as well). The author has done a fantastic job and bringing two tales together, while hitting the gut and leaving tons of food for thought. It's a series worth reading and one that belongs in the classroom.

I received a complimentary copy through Netgalley and was so engaged in these tales that I had to leave my honest thoughts. show less

Literary Merit: Excellent
Characterization: Excellent
Recommended: Yes
Level: Middle and High School

I absolutely loved this historical fiction imagining of Zora Neale Hurston's life as a child in Eatonville, Florida. Readers are transported between Zora's 1903 Eatonville and Lucia's (a slave) 1855 life on a plantation. The powerful story is told through the two narratives of these strong female characters.

It is a fantastic introduction to Zora Neale Hurston for middle grade readers. It is also show more a tremendous companion to Hurston's work "Their Eyes Were Watching God," which is a required text in many high schools.

Even though the story is tough to stomach, I'm glad to have read it. I am a reader of Hurston's writing, so I appreciate this imagining of what her life may have been. show less

The moment I finished reading this novel I immediately logged onto my LT account and gave it five stars. A couple days later I decided to reduce it to two-and-a-half but then reconsidered and gave it three. Why do I have these mixed reactions about ZORA AND ME?

It's a charming story, and anyone who loves Hurston will definitely be drawn to ZORA AND ME. For myself personally, I respect Hurston but my real love is for Nella Larsen {see note below}, so while I found ZORA AND ME a charming book, show more it's not something I absolutely adored. Nevertheless, based on charm, I initially gave it five stars.

Then I started thinking about its target audience, elementary and middle-school age. Even advanced readers at that age are not likely to know Zora Neale Hurston, nor are very many of them likely to go on to read her until they are a few years older. So now I assess ZORA AND ME based simply upon the story itself, as it will be read by the target audience who have no idea of who Zora Neale Hurston was.

Something about this novel's conclusion gives me a real feeling of discomfort. The novel climaxes with Zora serving in an intermediary role between a good White man and a good Black man, these two men then acting separately but equally to resolve the conflict in their communities. Yes, that's exactly what I mean, SEPARATELY BUT EQUALLY, and it's a solution that is presented as commendable.

For Hurston herself, growing up in Eatonville, Florida, was probably the best thing that could have happened to her in the Jim Crow era, and "separate but equal" may have worked benefits in her own individual case and in the case of Black-controlled Eatonville as a whole, at least in contrast with the severities of Jim Crow rule. Still, I doubt that very many adults will want to present "separate but equal" as a positive good, and I have the uncomfortable feeling that the conclusion of ZORA AND ME does precisely that. It may also be a biographically apt depiction of Hurston herself, considering her own conservative (or perhaps more precisely, libertarian) politics, but this is still a conclusion that many adults might have reservations about in presenting as an affirmative good to young readers, at least where the issue of "separate but equal" is concerned.

All in all, ZORA AND ME is a charming story, but it's one that an adult should read carefully before encouraging a child to read it, and the adult should be available to the child for any questions the child might have. The "separate but equal" conclusion makes me uncomfortable with this as a children's book.

Note: This review is now over ten years old, and in more recent years I've become more drawn to Hurston than when this review was written. show less

I received a free advanced copy of this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

This is a powerful, well written historical fiction/mystery story that follows a fictionalized young Zora Neal Hurston as her and her friends find out some dark secrets about some of the adults in their town that are coming back to haunt them. The story is narrated by Zora’s best friend Carrie and begins at the turn of the 20th century with the pair finding the town show more mute Mr. Polk in trouble with a white landowner. The narrative then alternates between Zora and Carrie in 1903 and the story of Lucia who is a slave girl on a Florida plantation half a century earlier. The more we find out about Lucia, the more we learn that she’s a piece of the puzzle to help solve the problems surrounding Mr. Polk and the other residents in Zora’s home of Eatonville, FL, which was the first black incorporated town in America.
While a young Zora Neal Hurston is a main character of the book, the story deals more with the treatment of African Americans in the early 1900s and the horrors of slavery than the life of Hurston. Through Zora and Carrie’s thoughtful reflections on some of the terrible things they hear about the Eatonville residents who were born slaves (ex: whippings, families being sold apart, etc.), there’s some great discussions on the mentality and moral character of white landowners who could live with their cruel actions after abusing their slaves and treating them as property instead of people. Overall, even if young readers don’t know who Zora Neal Hurston is, this is a well written historical mystery, especially to tie in to a lesson on the terrible history and legacy of slavery. I also didn’t know until after I finished that this is a sequel. You do not have to read the first to enjoy this story and I enjoyed this one so much I will be reading the first. show less