In the Neighborhood of True, by Susan Kaplan Carlton (Algonquin
Young Readers)
In the Neighborhood of True is the
most powerful, compelling book I have read this year. The story immediately captivated
with the first-person narrative of a teenage girl, a secular Jew, who relocates
with her widowed mother and younger sister from New York to Atlanta. But the
year is 1958, just at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement, and Jim Crow,
the KKK, lynchings, and segregation are very much alive. Sent to an elite
private (and Christian) high school, Ruth is initially sheltered from these
tumultuous events as she is drawn into the world of Southern belles, debutante
balls, and a fairy-tale boyfriend. Her mother’s response is to begin regular family
attendance at the nearest synagogue, which is already involved in protesting
racism. Although torn between the glamour and romance of the conventional white
world and the deeper values her Jewish roots, Ruth “passes” as a WASP.
From the opening courtroom scene, though, Ruth’s narrative
conveys her understanding of overt and covert bigotry. She’s aware that whites
and Negros, to use the terminology of the time, swear on different Bibles, but
nowhere is there a copy of her own scripture, Tanakh. Her grandmother hands her a little pink book of Southern
feminine etiquette, and her history teacher refers to the Civil War as “The War
of Northern Aggression.” Brown v Board of
Ed (1954), the decision that desegregated schools, was considered a day of
mourning.
Ruth struggles to keep the two worlds separate. She wants
desperately to make herself into the ideal of Southern womanhood and for a
romance with the most devastatingly cute boy she’s ever met. But her Jewish and
her Southern selves move onto a collision course when the synagogue is
vandalized with the words, JEWS ARE NEGRO
LOVERS and a giant swastika. And from there, the violence against both
Blacks and Jews escalates, and Ruth must make hard choices about where her commitment
lies – to what is beguiling and easy, or to what is hard and terrifying.
The text is readily
accessible and the story moves along with engrossing, page-turning speed, while
at the same weaving a tapestry of complex moral issues. Teens may lack the life
experience of their parents, but they are also capable of discernment and
courage. Even as Ruth wrestles with her youthful insecurity, the longing for
approval, and the seductive nature of rewritten history, she also responds to
the call to justice that is the heart of her true heritage.
Highly recommended, relevant,
and a meaningful read for both teens and their parents.
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