Summer Battles

by Ann R. Blakeslee

In 1926 Indiana, elevenyearold Kath visits her grandfather whose housekeeper has become the target of the Klu Klux Klan, and Kath is determined to stand up to the group's hate against Serena.

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Kyra · Rating 3 out of 5]

To tell you the truth I hardly ever read books such as this. I do not know why, but they never appeal to me. I picked this book because I needed a short read to get me through the classes of the day(which it did with about 10 pages left to read at home). I was scanning the shelfs of the library to find something to read and saw this book and pulled it out because it was very small. I have read most of the other small books and did not recognize this one. Turns out I was the first person to check it out, don't I feel special. Once I looked at it and judged it by the cover(terrible habit I know) and saw the KKK I thought that it would be an enlightening read and checked it out. Turns out it was, but not at all in the way I expected. I was expecting a hate story about the KKK or a story of two little girls getting sucked in and something terrible happening to the younger one. I could relate to the main character because I went through the same struggle growing up. Then I found out that the message for me was about bullies and doing what is right. I did like this story, I don't read much about the subject of this one for fear of kids making fun of me for the KKK being on the front(which they did). I would suggest this to anyone, the violence is mild, no cursing, no really loveydovey scenes. I would tell a 5th grader to read this book.