Mama's Window

August 1, 2005
Gr 3-6 -James Earle -Sugar - Martin's mother has been dead for six months when this story begins. By her request, he is now living with her brother, a disabled loner. The two of them reside in a one-room shack in the Mississippi Delta and Uncle Free makes his living by fishing the waters of the swamp. He doesn't speak much, and when he does, he sounds gruff and short. Yet, as time goes by, his guidance is firm, gentle, kind, and patient. The story is loosely based on the childhood experiences of Reverend Owen H. Whitfield, an African-American sharecropper, preacher, and union organizer in Arkansas during the 1930s. At the heart of the story is the fact that Sugar's mother had taken on extra work to save money specifically for a stained-glass window when the new church is built. When funds fall short, the building committee decides to use the funds to buy bricks instead. Sugar's keen disappointment and his abiding faith in his mother's dream eventually cause church members to rethink what is important. Rubright's sentences are descriptive, yet never overwhelming; paragraphs are kept short, and the pace is swift -all elements that draw in even the most reluctant readers. The book is simple in style and layout, with plenty of white space and a few small black-and-white illustrations. This touching tale of a boy's commitment to his mother, underscored by the powerful understanding and closeness that develops between him and his uncle, makes this a wonderful first purchase." -Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2005
Gr. 4-6. After his mother's death, 11-year-old Sugar is sent to live with his disabled uncle in a one-room shack in a Mississippi swamp. As Uncle Free teaches him how to catch and sell fish and frogs, Sugar battles his grief, his fear of his new home, and taunts of "swamp rat" from local boys. He finds solace in watching the construction of the community's new church, and he looks forward to seeing the stained glass window that his mother had helped buy before her death. Then he learns that his mother's window won't be used, and his angry protests unite him with his uncle in a triumphant conclusion. In an author's note, Rubright writes that she based the novel, her first for young readers, on boyhood anecdotes of early-twentieth-century civil rights activist Owen Whitfield, and her text is filled with rich atmospheric and period detail. But what will affect readers most are Sugar's gradual, brave recovery from grief and the growing pride and love he shares with his new guardian. McKissack's occasional, soft-edged drawings illustrate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)