Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt

Hi readers!

I hope you are all looking forward to Easter and spring break!  If you need a book to read in your free time, I would definitely recommend Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy.

In 1912, Turner Buckmisnter and his family move from Boston to Phippsburg, Maine, where his father will be the new minister at the First Congregational church.  Turner's life in Maine does not start out well and he feels as if the whole town is out to get him and report to his father.  One day, as he is wandering around alone, as usual, he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a black girl who lives off the coast on Malaga Island.  The two become fast friends and spend more and more time with each other as the summer presses on, but people begin to notice the minister's son hanging around with a black girl from the very Island they are trying to destroy.  As tensions grow higher in the town and in his family, Turner is forced to decide whether he will do what is easy and go along with the town's racist sentiments. or do what is right and stand up for his friend and her family.  Both Turner and Lizzie's lives are changed forever by the friendship that they have formed on their beach.

I didn't know what to expect when I started this book, however, once I started reading, I was enthralled and devoured it in one day.  Based on true events, this novel draws the reader in to Maine at the beginning of the twentieth century and brings the characters to life.  The characters are ones that exist in every town and readers everywhere will be able to relate to and understand what Turner is feeling.  He doesn't fit in, he's lonely, he has one true friend that he can always count on.  As he learns about the two worlds that exist in his town, he feels that his loyalties are divided between his own family and Lizzie's family, who he has learned to love.

Each chapter brings another unexpected twist and left me wanting more.  As cliche as it sounds this book made me laugh and cry and feel like I was a part of the story.  It is not a read that I will soon forget.  I would highly suggest this book to people who are interested in history, but are also ready to read a book that will make them think and question their own thoughts.

That's all from me for today, happy reading!
Bridget